-July 20,2019-
Newport-based developer CapRock Partners who owns over 400 acres at Riggin and Plaza Drive are working on plans to build a 1.1 million square foot industrial warehouse, what would be the largest building in town.
“We expect to be underway with construction by early next year” says partner with the firm Pat Daniels.
The site would be just east of the new 350,000sf UPS ground shipment facility under construction right now.UPS bough 58 acres from Daniel’s firm a few year back and started construction on a new “super hub” complex earlier this year.
CapRock’s new 1.1million sf building would just slightly larger than retail giant VF Outdoor’s clothing distribution facility – one of Visalia largest private employers. Daniels says there is no deal yet with a tenant for his huge building.
The new UPS ‘super hub’ in Visalia is not expected to open completely until 2020, says spokesperson Kim Krebs. The Visalia complex is just one of many sites across the US and California that UPS is investing hundreds of millions of dollars on to speed packages to their destination, both by air and by ground.
The Visalia UPS super hub’s location is critical says Daniels because “only the Visalia/Fresno area can reach 99% of California with overnight shipments. “ UPS’s Fresno facility is landlocked for growth and the current Visalia UPS terminal is quite small. On July 10 UPS pulled their permit for the shell of the building valued at $21.2 million.Construction contractor is Layton Construction.
City of Visalia officials have been told by UPS that the big new facility could employ around 600.
Krebs adds that“UPS is in the midst of a multi-year capital investment program to construct and renovate facilities with higher levels of automation, acquire new aircraft and ground fleet vehicles, and enhance information technology platforms. In 2019, we plan to add even more capacity at 20 new and retro-fitted facilities globally, and welcome an additional 11 aircraft to our fleet.”
In 2018, UPS opened 22 new and retrofitted facilities globally, adding 5 million square feet with additional sorting capacity of 400,000 packages per hour across its network.
Krebs says his year there has been a major expansion by UPS in their hubs in southern California.
New facilities like Visalia “will drive 30-35% improved productivity in the new sites; increasing the percentage of eligible packages sorted with automated technology to near 100% by 2021” adds Krebs.
Daniels says he is confident in plans to add this much ‘spec’ space before actually commitments are being made. That’s because of the strength of demand near any big UPS hub that so any large businesses increasingly depend on. “Retailers are demanding their products move even faster to the customers front door ” boosted by the popularity of internet-based shopping.
CapRock is not the only ones expanding here ahead of firm leasing commitments. Another developer, Diversified Development of Fresno, has permitted two new large industrial buildings this summer to be built right across the street from CapRock and UPS.
Big employers are singing the city’s praises. “VF chose to do business in Visalia in large part because of its central location to the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland. Visalia represents the ideal location from which to receive and process goods.” says Nancy Kawenda, Senior Director of Distribution, Vf Outdoor.