Launchpad Collective Breaks Ground on 32-Unit Affordable Modular Housing Project in San Bernardino

Launchpad Collective broke ground July 7 on a 32-unit affordable modular housing project at 125 W. Baseline St., a development its founder said is intended to become a model for housing, economic opportunity and neighborhood reinvestment along the Baseline corridor.

The project is expected to be completed in April 2027, with the first residents moving in shortly after. Launchpad Collective founder and CEO Robert Carrillo 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.

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

For Carrillo, the project is not only about adding housing. He said Launchpad is designed to connect residents with supportive services, entrepreneurship opportunities and workforce development through partnerships that include the San Bernardino Community College District and the California University of Science and Medicine.

“Launchpad isn’t about buildings; it’s about people,” Carrillo said during the groundbreaking. “The people we’re trying to serve aren’t living their lives in silos. Everything is interconnected.”

Carrillo said the development is intended to serve young people aging out of foster care, transitional-age youth, immigrant youth and veteran women with children. But he said he hopes the project is remembered less for the building itself and more for the lives that begin there.

“When I drive by sites like this in San Bernardino, I don’t just see vacant lots,” Carrillo said. “I think about the young people and families who needed this kind of opportunity sooner — someone to see their potential before seeing their limitations.”

The ceremony included welcome remarks, invited dignitaries and a ceremonial groundbreaking. State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes and the city of San Bernardino also presented certificates of recognition for the project.

Carrillo said his measure of success will not come when construction is finished or when the building is fully occupied, but when Launchpad can replicate the concept on other sites.

“I’ll know we succeeded when we’re standing on another lot, when we are replicating this and breaking ground again,” Carrillo said. “This is not meant to be one building. It is meant to become a model — a model that proves neighborhoods are worth believing in.”

The project follows Launchpad Collective’s public opposition to a proposed McDonald’s drive-thru across the street, a proposal that went before the San Bernardino Planning Commission several times before the City Council ultimately denied the project.

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

“The highest and best use of that site is housing with commercial space below,” Carrillo told IECN in April 2026. “We could have McDonald’s there, but why not have residential units above it? Why not have more commercial spaces?”

Carrillo said the parcel could support roughly 100 to 120 residential units above ground-floor commercial space if developed to its highest potential. He said opponents of the McDonald’s proposal focused on land-use and policy arguments rather than emotion.

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

Carrillo also pointed to what he described as a broader pattern in lower-income neighborhoods, where projects are often accepted simply because they are viewed as better than vacant land.

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

Carrillo said Launchpad’s project includes 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and is projected by his team to generate at least $17 million in local economic impact in its first year. He said the estimate includes jobs, local economic activity and reduced strain on public systems, though the projection has not been independently verified.

Matthew Blake, president and CEO of Buildy Design & Construction, said he first connected with Carrillo at a development event hosted by Mayor Helen Tran and was drawn to the project’s focus on using real estate to support people and communities.

“As you know, I joined ARIA Inland Empire because I believe the Inland Empire is the future,” Blake said. “This is where we’re going to make changes to help communities and individuals through our real estate endeavors.”

Blake said the Baseline project could become a cornerstone for similar development in San Bernardino.

“I think it’s going to be duplicated over and over because this is the start of something special, especially on Baseline and in the San Bernardino community,” Blake said.

Carrillo closed by framing the groundbreaking as both a physical and generational milestone.

“Today, we’re not just breaking ground; we’re breaking cycles,” Carrillo said. “I believe generations who come after us may never know every person standing here right now, but they’ll live better lives because we stood here.”