Moreno Valley’s 69-acre downtown district is moving forward again.

Building the city’s first downtown, located within Cottonwood Avenue to the north, Alessandro Boulevard to the south and Nason Street to the east, would include up to 800 homes — with 100 designated as affordable housing — on nearly 36.5 acres, a nearly 16-acre retail area with restaurants and a 106-room hotel, and nearly five acres of public park space, according to a city report.

“Hopefully it is the last time this is here before us and we can get it built,” Mayor Ulises Cabrera said at this week’s City Council meeting. “I really think this is an excellent project — super excited to support this.”

The Moreno Valley City Council unanimously approved the 69.6-acre town center project at its meeting Tuesday.

The city bought the land in 1985 as a possible location for the Moreno Valley City Hall and Civic Center, before both were built at their Frederick Street location. In 2019, the council began exploring a project to build a downtown area.

The timeline of the project is unclear. It was previously approved in 2020 and set to be wrapped by 2025. At that time, planning took longer than anticipated with the coronavirus pandemic causing retail, commercial real estate and movie theaters to struggle. The city has also faced legal troubles in its planning endeavors — with Riverside Superior Court ruling Moreno Valley violated environmental law when in 2021 its “MoVal 2040” General Plan was approved.

The Lewis Acquisition Company, based in Upland, is charged with developing the 69.6-acre project.

With the proposed project approved, plans will come back to the council from the developer. Council members hope to get going on the project as soon as possible.

“It is in the heart of the city,” Councilmember Erlan Gonzalez said. “It’s going to be something that a lot of neighbors, residents have been clamoring for … it’s something we need: the shopping, the night life … “

City officials anticipate that, once completed, the town center will one day generate more than $1.1 million in annual revenue for the city, from property, sales and hotel taxes, according to a previous report. The total cost for the project was not immediately available on Wednesday.

Most speakers at the meeting Tuesday spoke in support of the project.

One speaker, Christopher Baca, said “It looks like an absolutely great project.”

Louise Palomarez, who labeled herself a community activist, said she was all for the project.

“Wow, bring it on!” Palomarez said. “We need this project.”

“It’s about time we put a downtown in this area,” Another speaker, Roy Bleckert said. “We’ve talked about it — this is what the whole concept was 30 years ago!”