San Bernardino Housing Push Collides With McDonald’s Plan at Baseline and Sierra

A proposed McDonald’s at Baseline Street and Sierra Way drew opposition from a San Bernardino developer who says the corner should instead help address housing insecurity, support small businesses and advance a more walkable future for Ward 1.

Robert Carrillo, founder and president of Carrillo Group and Launchpad Collective Inc., said his organization’s planned mixed-use development at 125 W. Baseline will soon bring 32 modular residential units, micro-retail space, a commercial kitchen, a daycare and small restaurant space to the corridor.

The dispute gained added urgency after the San Bernardino Planning Commission voted 3-2 in March to reject the proposed McDonald’s project across the street from Launchpad’s forthcoming housing development. Carrillo said the result reflected growing concern over whether the development fit the corridor’s long-term vision and said he expects the project to be appealed.

Carrillo said his housing project is designed for transitional-age youth, including young adults aging out of foster care, and veteran women with children — groups he said face growing housing instability in the city.

“We are determined to end youth homelessness here,” Carrillo said. “That’s the first step.”

Carrillo said Launchpad, which has existed for two years, expects to break ground in July and have residents moving in during the first quarter of 2027. He said the development will include 22 studios, six two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units, with apartments ranging from about 500 square feet to about 1,000 square feet.

The project is being planned as a mixed-income development under Assembly Bill 2011 and San Bernardino’s transit-oriented development framework, Carrillo said. He said the site will not include parking, an approach he argued fits the area’s transit access and the city’s push for more walkable communities.

Carrillo said the debate has intensified because the proposed McDonald’s would sit across the street from Launchpad’s site.

“It’s not about interfering with our project,” Carrillo said. “It interferes with the development and the progress of San Bernardino, especially the residents in Ward 1.”

Carrillo argued the McDonald’s proposal conflicts with the intent of the corridor’s land-use rules because it would require changes to allow a drive-thru, more parking and other site adjustments in an area he says should prioritize mixed-use housing.

He said the parcel in question could support roughly 100 to 120 residential units above ground-floor commercial space if developed to its highest potential.

“The highest and best use of that site is housing with commercial space below,” Carrillo said. “We could have McDonald’s there, but why not have the residential units above? Why not have more commercial spaces?”

Carrillo said opponents approached the March 10 hearing with land-use and policy arguments rather than emotion, and that commissioners echoed some of those points during deliberations.

“It wasn’t, ‘We hate McDonald’s,’” Carrillo said. “It’s about, we have a better vision for what can be here.”

Carrillo said Launchpad’s 32-unit mixed-use project, which he said includes 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, is projected to generate at least $17 million in local economic impact in its first year. He said the estimate was based on modeling his team conducted using a platform he identified as “NPlan,” and said the figure accounts for jobs, local economic activity and public-system impacts. Carrillo also said the project could generate “a couple of million dollars in taxes,” though those projections were not independently verified.

He also pointed to what he described as a broader pattern in lower-income neighborhoods, where projects are often accepted simply because they are seen as better than vacancy.

“You only hear, ‘It’s better than nothing,’ in these parts of town,” he said.

Carrillo said the development is also meant to create an ecosystem of support. He said Launchpad’s partners include the San Bernardino Community College District and the California University of Science and Medicine, with plans to connect residents to supportive services, entrepreneurship opportunities and workforce development.

He said the need is urgent.

“There are 4,000 McKinney-Vento students in San Bernardino City Unified who don’t have permanent addresses,” Carrillo said. “That’s a crazy amount.”

For Carrillo, the issue is larger than one restaurant or one project. He said the question is whether San Bernardino will continue settling for what is available, or begin demanding development that better matches the needs of its residents.

“All it is is a shiny building at the end of the day with a bunch of car traffic that is not conducive to a walkable community right there,” he said.