Trader Joe's opening in Murrieta

[ClownLoach]

Since there is a theme going, Trader Joe's is opening in the former OfficeMax on Murrieta Hot Springs Road next to a extremely busy Sam's Club and a vacant Dicks Sporting Goods that relocated to the Temecula Promenade Mall last year. Across the street is the struggling small format Amazon Fresh that is in a former Rite Aid. I am told that years ago Ralphs operated the first grocery store in the city in the same center that Amazon is in, but it closed ten years ago or so. I'm sure they probably wish they kept it open now.

The Trader Joe's is actively under construction inside, front walls have been cut and changed for the typical exit at the far corner and they already have gondola parts on the side. Keeping my fingers crossed that they aren't going to put a ugly drop ceiling in this one, so far it looks like they're going to leave it a warehouse ceiling. Store should be open by July.

Might be interesting to see if they can handle the obscure local liquor laws of the city. For some odd reason it is not legal to sell individual 12 ounce cans or bottles of beer. They must only be sold as a six pack (or whatever other pack size is allowed). There is an exception for larger bottles, and local liquor stores have been trying to petition for a change in the ordinance for a while. Trader Joe's usually allows individual can and bottle sales for beers to allow customers to try them out and they offer a mix and match carrier. That would not be allowed in Murrieta.

There is a very old and small Trader Joe's one off-ramp down I-15 on Winchester Rd in Temecula which is staying open. That store is overloaded with customers, and it is next to a very busy WinCo.

[CalItalian]

This area - within a 2-mile radius - is about to see a population explosion with thousands of new apartments under construction, approved or in the approval process. The latest a 387-unit complex 1.7 miles west on Murrieta Hot Springs at Jefferson.
Traffic is already very bad surrounding the Sam's Club property.

https://patch.com/california/murrieta/3 ... -jefferson

Menifee has been approched by Trader Joe's but there is no existing structure they can be fit into and likely there won't be for the foreseeable future (if ever - likely would have to be a new build). The only larger vacant store currently in the city is the former Rite Aid adjacent to Stater Bros. on Newport at Murrieta.

[ClownLoach]

This area - within a 2-mile radius - is about to see a population explosion with thousands of new apartments under construction, approved or in the approval process. The latest a 387-unit complex 1.7 miles west on Murrieta Hot Springs at Jefferson.
Traffic is already very bad surrounding the Sam's Club property.

https://patch.com/california/murrieta/3 ... -jefferson

Menifee has been approched by Trader Joe's but there is no existing structure they can be fit into and likely there won't be for the foreseeable future (if ever - likely would have to be a new build). The only larger vacant store currently in the city is the former Rite Aid adjacent to Stater Bros. on Newport at Murrieta.

Murrieta has lots that were approved for large apartment complexes and/or home tracts in the early 1980s that have their developers renew the approvals every couple of years. There is a large apartment complex going up on Washington opposite corner of the Ralphs and it was approved in the early 1980s but only finally got underway last year. It should be assumed that any vacant lot you see anywhere in that area is approved for development, the only question is when will the owner actually get the funding for a build. Just because you're hearing of an approval now doesn't mean that it will actually be built anytime soon even if it sounds like it is imminent.

There is another factor that isn't being spoken of and that is insurance. There are many areas that were underway in the Riverside county market that have completely frozen due to updated California fire risk maps. Some new development areas in French Valley for example, Citrus Heights in Riverside, etc. were blindsided by changes that list them as very high severity risk fire zones. As a result, you are seeing a sudden push back to the "center" of these cities for more developments and pull away from the fringes. In some cases developers have reportedly received calls mid build and were told their insurance was canceled effective immediately. These maps will be updated again soon and may make an even larger mess of the insurance market.

[CalItalian]

This area - within a 2-mile radius - is about to see a population explosion with thousands of new apartments under construction, approved or in the approval process. The latest a 387-unit complex 1.7 miles west on Murrieta Hot Springs at Jefferson.
Traffic is already very bad surrounding the Sam's Club property.

https://patch.com/california/murrieta/3 ... -jefferson

Menifee has been approched by Trader Joe's but there is no existing structure they can be fit into and likely there won't be for the foreseeable future (if ever - likely would have to be a new build). The only larger vacant store currently in the city is the former Rite Aid adjacent to Stater Bros. on Newport at Murrieta.

Murrieta has lots that were approved for large apartment complexes and/or home tracts in the early 1980s that have their developers renew the approvals every couple of years. There is a large apartment complex going up on Washington opposite corner of the Ralphs and it was approved in the early 1980s but only finally got underway last year. It should be assumed that any vacant lot you see anywhere in that area is approved for development, the only question is when will the owner actually get the funding for a build. Just because you're hearing of an approval now doesn't mean that it will actually be built anytime soon even if it sounds like it is imminent.

There is another factor that isn't being spoken of and that is insurance. There are many areas that were underway in the Riverside county market that have completely frozen due to updated California fire risk maps. Some new development areas in French Valley for example, Citrus Heights in Riverside, etc. were blindsided by changes that list them as very high severity risk fire zones. As a result, you are seeing a sudden push back to the "center" of these cities for more developments and pull away from the fringes. In some cases developers have reportedly received calls mid build and were told their insurance was canceled effective immediately. These maps will be updated again soon and may make an even larger mess of the insurance market.

The complex being built across from Ralphs wasn't zoned for apartments until 1999. It wasn't approved until 2005. The property owners/developers let the approval lapse. It was just approved in 2022.
https://patch.com/california/murrieta/2 ... mission-ok

This, like most of Murrieta - and certainly where most of the apartments or condos/townhomes are approved or seeking approval, are in low fire prone areas. Insurance is less an issue than getting financing in this economy.

Just a few blocks south of the coming Trader Joe's, just across the border in extreme northern Temecula, 321 units (single family + townhomes/condos) are currently rising along the eastside of I-15, the Heirloom Farms housing tract (Date St./Ynez Rd.).

Rather swift approval of these and many other mostly apartments in the area is because of state mandated construction of housing for each city. And these projects are moving along quite well into the construction phase throughout the entire Temescal Valley area.

Yet Murrieta has not properly addressed the traffic it already has along Murrieta Hot Springs Road in the area of the I-15/215 corridor and the coming Trader Joe's. At least Temecula has under phase three of the French Valley Parkway project which they are currently working on funding to build a bridge over I-15 between Winchester and Murrieta Hot Springs Rd. and add a northbound exit as well as entrances in both directions.
https://temeculaca.gov/277/French-Valle ... nterchange