Visalia boom continues
-September 2,2022-
Seefried Industrial Properties will take over the development of the giant 284-acre Shirk and Riggin industrial project in Visalia on farm land owned by the Ritchie family. Seefried, based in Atlanta but managed from Phoenix, is the company who is building the new Ace Hardware distribution center about ready to open just north of Goshen Ave on Plaza.
The $90 million, one million SF complex will employ around 400. Now Seefried says they will launch a new ‘spec’ building nearby at Rd 76 (American) and Goshen Ave this November with strong interest from tenants. This news according to Seefried representative Bryan Frarey. This would be the second multi-million dollar project in the Visalia Industrial Park. But Frarey told this reporter a few weeks ago they were looking to do more here.
The company has a portfolio of 190 million SF of Class A build-to-suit and speculative industrial projects all over the nation but particularly in the West including a dozen markets in California.
Big news
The big news this week is Seefried has come to an agreement with the Ritchie family to build a proposed 3.8 million SF industrial project north of Riggin between Kelsey and Shirk, the largest project ever expected to employ 4100. Asked about the project, Frarey said he couldn’t comment this week and there is no word if this is a joint venture that will be doing this massive development or what.
Whatever the case “the news is very exciting“ says Visalia economic development manager Devon Jones.
As of this week, Visalia has published the first step in a full EIR on the development with a Notice of Preparation (NOP) detailing it will have warehouses, distribution, and light manufacturing; six flex industrial buildings; two drive-thru restaurants; a convenience store; a recreational vehicle (RV) and self-storage facility; and a car wash.The retail uses will be clustered at the NW corner of Shirk and Riggin – across for the street from proposed Costco store, on the NE corner.The applicant on the NOP is listed as Seefried.
The map here is what the Ritchie group had published in the city site-plan process over the past 6 months suggesting the project would be done in phases with the first big building across from Amazon on Kelsey.It is rumored to be a trucking firm that wants a terminal in town.
More annexations in works
The project would need to be annexed into the city limits. Nearby, YS Industries may be the first out of the block on their annexation request on the SW corner of Riggin and Shirk on 78 acres. The city hopes to complete this annexation by the end of the year. YS Industries wants to build 1.5 million SF on this corner that includes an old dairy. Other annexations are waiting their turn as the industrial boom in Visalia shows no sign of waning.
A scoping conference on the proposed Seefried EIR is scheduled for September 13, 2022 5:30 p.m. at City Hall East Conference Room,315 E. Acequia.
Founded in 1984 by Ferdinand Seefried, Seefried Industrial Properties is a privately owned, nationally-recognized leader in industrial real estate, with over three decades of development, leasing and management experience in core markets throughout the U.S.
Seefried leases and manages approximately 40 million square feet for its institutional and European clients and has developed, or is in the process of developing, approximately 190 million square feet of space valued in excess of $17 billion across 120+ markets.