Town Center at the Preserve – Lewis Retail Centers to Develop 146,830 SQFT Retail and Office Complex in Chino

The Registry

February 4, 2022

Chino, CA –KTGY has unveiled innovative designs for Town Center at The Preserve, the new retail and office center coming to Chino, in California’s western San Bernardino County. Developed by Lewis Retail Centers, the modernized Main Street district is in the heart of the residential neighborhoods of The Preserve at Chino. KTGY’s plan uniquely combines vibrant Main Street retail – including an active street front, vertical mixed-use units and places for gatherings and events – with modern, suburban-style parking and access directly facing the residential community.

The result is a hybrid town center and neighborhood that is walkable and attractive to residents, visitors and businesses. It is at Main Street and Pine Avenue in Chino. Total building square footage is 146,830.

“Town Center at The Preserve creates a traditional downtown-style district within a compact, new masterplan,” said KTGY Associate Principal Michael Tseng, AIA. “It demonstrates that the proven and desirable traits of Main Street retail centers can uplift and energize a completely new community. This approach, although designed specifically for The Preserve at Chino, is replicable in other new masterplans, lifting them above suburban sprawl patterns which too often hamper pedestrian vitality.”

Town Center at The Preserve includes some of the essential components of downtown mixed-use streets:

  • Active retail frontage.
  • Vertical mixed-use spaces on upper floors facing Main Street.
  • Second-level office spaces above the Main Street retail.
  • Street furniture such as planter boxes and pedestrian benches.
  • Multiple areas for events such as outdoor movies.
  • A range other outdoor amenities, include shade structures, cabanas, firepits, and al-fresco lounges.
  • Angled parking and bulb-out corners for traffic calming and pedestrian zones.
  • Raised “table top” crosswalks for convenient and safe pedestrian crossing without the need for ramps.
  • Iconic “MAIN STREET” sculpture creates a sense of arrival and departure and an “Instagram moment.”
  • Individual plazas provide different design features – including raised planters with seat wall, benches, soft lounge seating, and shade structures.
  • There are no walled boundaries between retail and residential components, permitting cohesive and harmonious environments for the whole project.

“The entire site is designed with the pedestrian in mind,” said Tseng. “A complete pedestrian network not only connects within the shopping center, but the shade structures provide rest stops. Multiple points of connections to adjacent residential developments allow residents to walk to the Center and avoid driving.”

One of the plazas connects to the dog park in the adjacent residential neighborhood, bringing residents and shoppers together.

Other innovations include bi-fold garage doors incorporated into the larger restaurant facades that connect indoor dining with outdoor plazas.

Among the most intriguing solutions was to move the primary retail entries to the rear, facing larger surface parking, while keeping Main Street frontage active with amenities.

“The developer requested that entries face the surface parking and neighborhoods,” said Tseng. “We listened and worked collaboratively, devising a design where the actual ‘backs’ of many stores, including utility rooms, are along Main Street but have the appearance of being in the ‘front.’ We even introduced faux storefronts with opaque glass, planters and pedestrian benches.”

Developer Lewis Retail Centers partnered with KTGY in this solution, and the other innovations.

“This is a breakthrough approach, placing traditional street-front attractions in a compact, but still suburban setting,” said Lewis Retail Centers Ken Caron, Senior Vice President – Commercial Development. “Here, Main Street has the iconic allure that people love, while the immediate neighbors enjoy convenient, walkable access to the retail.”

There are permeable walkways at the mid-block and corners, so that pedestrian circulation is active. Other innovations include incorporating broad walls into one of facades for outdoor movies. The 146,830 square feet of retail and mixed-use is rendered in a mixture of laser-cut metal panels, natural stone, wood-look tiles and stucco.

Landscaping is also a major component of the plan. The Preserve community is artfully designed around the concept of “healthy living,” with all aspects of design – the varied housing types, natural spaces, sport parks, paseos and recreation center – working in harmony to create a cohesive living experiences.

“Neighborhoods themed as Homecoming and The Harvest exemplify the commitment to these community goals,” said Scott Shoup, partner of landscaping firm Sitescapes, Inc. “The streetscapes are designed with all-edible shrubs and trees. The community also offers a farm-to-table garden club for harvest events.”