In 25 years, housing will look different in Inland Empire

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | CONTRIBUTOR

The single-family house that symbolizes life in the Inland Empire will be alive and well 25 years from now.

Anthony Orlando, a Cal Poly Pomona associate professor of finance, real estate and law, said he believes most people will still live in such homes.

But, in many cases, the standalone dwelling of the future won’t resemble the house with the big backyard common today in Riverside County, San Bernardino County and eastern Los Angeles County.

“Housing is evolving and there will be surprises,” said developer Randall Lewis, executive vice presi- dent of Upland-based Lewis Management Corp. Look for houses to be more dense, more vertical, more energy efficient –many will produce as much electricity as they consume – and located near stores, Lewis said.

Look also for a higher proportion of housing to be apartments, condominiums and townhomes – some of which will be hard to tell apart from the new single-family home.

“The lines between multifamily and single family will blur,” Lewis said.

Inland project offers peek at future An example of what the future may look like is the Tempo neighborhood in The Resort development in Rancho Cucamonga.

Houses are spaced so close together – about 15 to the acre – that they appear to be townhomes, Lewis said.

The homes have only thin strips of yards, he said, though they are large enough for a barbecue grill and “a place to sit.”

Tempo is one of five different housing products in The Resort that range from single-family homes to condominiums and have 12 to 24 homes per acre, Lewis wrote in an email.

The demand for a variety of housing styles will be driven by a growing diversity of households.

In the past, most people who shopped for Inland Empire houses were families with children, Lewis said. Large families tend-