-September 23,2020-
200 unit apartment in Visalia planned
Property owner TriCounty Bank is building a 200-unit apartment complex the vacant northeast corner of Doe and Shirk across across from the Visalia Industrial Park. The $4 million project obtained a building permit on September 15.The project also features a 4500sf community building.
Downtown Visalia losing Mechanic’s Bank
Bay area-based Mechanic’s Bank, formerly Rabobank , will close their Downtown Visalia branch according to notice posted by the state. The bank will close 10 West Coast branches. The bank will retain its Mooney branch located at the Sequoia Mall. The Downtown branch will shut their doors Friday Sept 25 at noon.
Visalia’s top three banks listed
FDIC’s annual despot market share report for Visalia, published June 30 shows the top three banks in Visalia retained their ranking and gained hundreds of millions in their deposits in the past year. The regulatory agency says Bank of Sierra was the top bank by deposits and market share but fell from 20.29% market share to 19.78%. Still the locally based bank deposits rose in the past year from $1 billion to $1.2 billion inside the market.
The number two bank is Bank of America whose market share fell slightly from 17.81% to 17.67%. Local deposits grew from $941 million to $1.1 billion. Third is Wells Fargo whose market share climbed from 15.62% to 16.10%. Deposits grew from $825 million to $1 billion.
The FDIC says the 14 banks it ranked in Visalia held $6.2 billion in deposits as of June 2020 compared to $5.2 billion as of June 2019.
Among the smaller banks Suncrest Bank moved up in the ranking from 6th in deposits to 4th.
Tulare County jobless rate falls in August – ag jobs took big hit in pandemic
The unemployment rate in Tulare County was 13.1 percent in August 2020, down from a revised 16.1 percent in July 2020, and above the year-ago estimate of 9.2 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 11.6 percent for California and 8.5 percent for the nation.
Farm jobs in the county in August are down by 13,599 from 42,600 in Aug 2019 to 29,1000 in August 2020 -about a one third drop. Fresno and Kings counties show a much more modest drop in farm jobs while Kern ag jobs also declined year over year by about 33%.
In the non-farm category, education and health jobs declined by 3000, government jobs were down 2100 and hospitality jobs fell by 1900.
Kaweah Delta’s new assisted living project hurt by pandemic
In 2016 Kaweah Delta approved construction of a new 120-unit independent, assisted, and memory care senior living project called Quail Park at Shannon Ranch near the intersection of Demaree and Flagstaff in northwest Visalia.
Kaweah Delta owns 33 and one third percent of the new project, which is held by Northwest Visalia Senior Housing. Other partners are the Shannon family, Bernard te Velde, Cathy Boshaw and Doug Eklund of the Seattle area and Millennium Advisors is owned primarily by Denis Bryant, the current managing partner of Quail Park and the Memory Care Center.
The new approximately $40 million project broke ground in March 2018 and was completed in early 2020.
Then the pandemic hit, the hospital board heard in a report this month suggesting a high level of red ink for the startup.The hospital foundation contributed around $4 million for its share.
Before COVID-19, management expected that occupancy of the main building would reach 50% within 90 days of opening and that the memory care center would be completely filled within that time frame. Early deposits and waiting lists supported this. However, occupancy of the independent living building is 9% as of August 2020 and the memory care is at 35%. An additional 18 deposits have been received, but the individuals have not moved in.
The report says “As a result, Quail Park at Shannon Ranch generated an operating loss of $631,569 from March 2020 to June 2020. Combined with non-operating expenses, which include pre-opening expenses, loan fees, interest, depreciation, and management, the total net income/(loss) was ($3,248,955) through June 2020. Owners of Northwest Visalia Senior Housing have made a series of four cash calls to fund operations. These contributions are being treated as loans payable. To date, Kaweah Delta has made loan payments totaling $539,833 which was paid by the hospital’s foundation.. These loans have a maturity date of December 31, 2021 and pay 5% interest. Kaweah Delta’s accrued interest is $5,454 as of June 30, 2020.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on senior living could not have been predicted. Management of Quail Park at Shannon Ranch have continued to actively promote the facility, providing both in-person and virtual tours. The sales staff routinely delivers meals to individuals that have expressed interest in Quail Park as a way to stay in touch with potential residents. The facility is also very active on social media. Various discounts are being offered to entice people to move in now.
It is anticipated that once COVID-19 volumes decline, Quail Park at Shannon Ranch will see a significant increase in deposits and people moving into the facilities.” concludes the report
US solar module shipments double vs 2019
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes a monthly PV module shipment report. Through July shipments are a surprising double in number compared to the same time in 2019 – around 10 million units despite the pandemic shutdown. Locally the pace is down slightly with Tulare County residential solar projects numbering 1754 through mid September of this year compared to 2207 by the same date in 2019.