Ground broken for downtown office building

Ground was broken recently on the largest, non-governmental office building to be built within downtown Riverside in over 15 years. When completed, the 10-story Regency Tower will also be the tallest structure built since the 12-story Marriott (Sheraton) Hotel opened in 1987.

Located on the northeast corner of Tenth and Orange streets, the 250,000 sq. ft. building will include 3 levels of underground parking, which will be a nice change from the typical above-ground garage — or worse, ground-level asphalt lots.

Our main question is why such a long dry spell between large, steel-framed high-rises? After an initial boom in the mid-1970s followed by mini-booms in both the mid-1980s and early-1990s, downtown had not seen a significant steel-framed structure built until the 150,000 sq. ft., 5-story Press-Enterprise building was completed in early 2007.

With having one of the few well-established and authentic downtowns within Southern California, it’s difficult to fathom why Riverside has lagged recently in this regards.

Overall, our hope is that Regency Tower signals a new era of higher densities for downtown Riverside. The city (and the region) simply cannot continue building forever outward.

Photo Gallery: Downtown Riverside – Buildings & Skyline

Update

• Riverside Press-Enterprise – Big dig underway for Riverside’s tallest privately owned building (Feb. 22)

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com – Site cleared for downtown office building (April 2007)

Sources: RaincrossSquare.com; Riverside Press-Enterprise (PE-20080222)

2025 PAGE UPDATE: Removed outdated link to newspaper article.