May 5,2018-
California to adopt Federal Milk Marketing Order
California milk producers voted yes on transitioning to a Federal Milk Marketing Order from a state system after all California’s big milk coops voted yes. Three cooperatives including Land O Lakes and CDI in the Central Valley represent over 75% of the producers in the state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not make it official, announcing the results of the producer referendum, until early June. USDA will be targeting November 1, 2018 as a start date. Dairymen hope for a better price for their products under a federal order like the rest of the nation has.
Visalia: City Council discussion: When to sell City Hall?
The Visalia City Council will take up the matter of a possible sale of its City Hall at 707 W Acequia at their closed-door meeting May 7. The posted agenda says they will discuss a possible sale and its timing. Sources says the council wants to transition to their East Visalia Civic Center location even though they are years away from a new City Hall. They could decide to relocate temporarily to accommodate a buyer sooner.
Also, Visalia Unified School District superintendent Robert Groeber says the district is ready to join the city in the their proposed new Civic Center suggesting they could sell their Cypress Ave buildings to help make it happen. VUSD has well ever 60,000 square feet in two offices there, off Akers., an area experiencing plenty of growth.
Groeber says VUSD would not use bond money to make a move. ”The idea of using joint space makes sense” says Groeber, who is working with long-time colleague Randy Groom, now the top official at the City of Visalia.
Visalia: Developer plans new office next to Cigna
Visalia’s Paloma Development has won out in a bid to build an office complex on County land next to Cigna on Akers in Visalia. County administrator John Hess says that the bidders are Fresno’s John Kashian who offered 46 cents per square foot and Visalia developer Harvey May of Paloma Development who bid 76 cents per square foot. The site is at at 800 S Akers on 2.4 acres.
Hess says the County expects to award the bid to Paloma on May 15.The Paloma application said they plan an initial development of 11,000sf on the parcel across from the Lifestyle Center in west Visalia, on the north end of the property.
Since they bought the Cigna property in 2015 the County has moved in several department ,continues to lease space to Cigna and is working to lease out several smaller spaces still available in the 180,000sf building. Now they will gain more income from this surplus parcel.
More Sales Pending
Besides this deal the county is expecting to sell two surplus properties soon, the old courthouse in Downtown Tulare next to City Hall and the county courthouse in Downtown Porterville.
The county recently sold the art deco 4-story courthouse in Downtown Visalia to a developer who plans to turn it into a boutique hotel.The escrow on the sale closes in July.
Visalia: New industrial buildings coming late summer
Nearly 700,000 square feet of new industrial buildings in the
Visalia Industrial Park are on the drawing board being proposed
by Fresno developer John Brelsford.
Brelsford’s company, Diversified Development Group already
completed 480,000sf, three buildings last year, two with tenants
already and expecting the third will be leased out in coming
weeks.
Now they will focus at the SW corner of the Plaza and Riggin to
build the next four “spec’ buildings. Spokesman Marcus Pignotti
says the plan is to build a 120,000sf budding first followed by a
236,000 sf building with two more concrete tilt-up structures to
follow.
With little vacant inventory these building offered for lease help
fill what is expected to be strong demand to locate here. Visalia
has about 15 million square feet of industrial space, about two
thirds of the county’s inventory total.