Retail News: Burlington Coat Factory held its grand opening on Oct. 25 for their new 50,000 square foot store in part of the former Home Base location.Now Mor’s Furniture is coming a few blocks north.But the latest news is that Ashley Furniture – the fast growing upholstered furniture store and maker is scouring the town for a spot as well.The company has 400 stores nationwide and is in Bakersfield and Fresno.The retailer has more than $3.3 billion in sales. Furniture sales are up as the housing market has recovered.
Fewer Distressed Homes: Here is a good sign.California Association of Realtor reports there are fewer distressed home sales in state and in Tulare County. The decline in REOs and short sales in the county is dramatic – from 54% of all sales in Sept 2012 to 26% in Sept 2013. Statewide,distressed sales fell from 37% to 14.5% over the same
time.
Roof Top Solar Boom: Homeowners in Tulare County and all over the state are signing up for solar panels on their roofs in record numbers. The biggest player in the field is Wall Street favorite Solar City who is installing more than half the units here. According to permit figures the number of residential solar building permits in Tulare County has grown from 77 for this date in late October in 2011, valued at $2.3 million, to 640 units during the same period in 2012 valued at $17.8 million. This year the numbers are up to 786 permits at $22.2 million,more than a 10 fold increase in both numbers and value from just two years ago.
Tulare County PACE Program recently approved by the BOS offers to do 100% financing for solar installations at commercial and ag properties with director Mike Washam adding there is some $13 million in projects awaiting final approval including a big packing house and dairy among others.
Visalia’a largest public works project ever will now go forward. At their October 21 meeting the Visalia City Council denied the appeal by Balfour Beatty Co and authorized award of the $93 million construction contract for the Water Conservation Plant upgrade to W.M. Lyles, Inc. Staff anticipates executing the contract in early to mid-November. On Sept.16, Council had directed staff to continue with the award of the project to W.M. Lyles, the lowest responsive bidder.Staff at the city had recommended re-bidding the project citing irregularities.But a majority on the council found those issues to be minor with member Collins voting to rebid.The city hopes avoid any court fight.
Come next July Kaweah Delta Medical Center will add 15 more graduate physicians working in the district including a new psychiatric program.But the district is not the only local health care provider bringing in student docs to bolster care here.
Reason To Smile: Visalia-based Family HealthCare Network has partnered with Lutheran Medical Center’s dental program to set up a dental residency program at FHCN health centers.The dental residency program places dental residents in community health center sites for comprehensive general dentistry training.Dental services are offered in Porterville, Visalia, Goshen, Woodlake, Cutler and Hanford. A seventh site in Terra Bella is scheduled to open December and will offer dental services. Post-doctoral dental residents will begin their first year beginning in July 2014.
Dollar Stores Fallout: Two planned new dollar stores in Lindsay are on hold after some disputes. Activist Trudy Wischemann sued the city on the location for a Dollar General store after she objected to a previous plan. “Dollar General is not coming” stated mayor Danny Salinas at their most recent council meeting.”We lost one of our biggest projects, a million dollar project” he said. A second Family Dollar store in town is also on hold because of issues with CalTrans.Meanwhile, a Dollar General store is moving forward in Exeter. Wischemann,who writes a column in the Exeter paper, says Lindsay did not follow planning rules.”Our city has been ignoring those laws so long they think they’re exempt.”
Rock On: The step up in construction activity has spurred Orosi Rock on Ave 420 to seek permits to increase its aggregate volume from 6.8 million to 10.8 million tons. Also nearby the Hunsaker Mine -1.5 miles northeast from East Orosi – wants to expand its operations adding an additional 55,000 cubic yards of crushed material at their site.