What was the biggest building project in Tulare County in 2023?
The largest building project in Tulare County last year (by far) was valued at $468 million and involved construction of a ground mounted solar project near Richgrove called Rexford Solar Farm.The two phase project sprawls over nearly 5000 acres and will produce 1200MW of solar power and 1200MW of battery storage. The solar farm is said to be the largest in the nation.
The huge dollar value rivals the building of the 33-mile Friant Kern Canal replacement estimated to be costing $500 million.By contrast the million sq ft Amazon buildings in Visalia came in around $100 million each and the new Visalia Civic Center built on 33 acres in east Visalia, is estimated to cost about $107 million.
Visalia new home construction lags while multi-family is up
Latest snapshot of building activity through August in Visalia published by the city shows new home construction down 19% from the year before permitting 195 single-family homes versus 240 during the same eight months of 2023.
On the other hand, multifamily construction is way up, permitting 323 apartments so far this year compared to just 19 during the same period 2023. The value of the single family home construction is $63 million through August while the value of the multifamily is nearly as much at $60 million.
Low interest rates may stimulate more building activity in Visalia going forward but so far this summer the monthly building numbers are lower each month than the 2023 numbers.In Tulare County, San Joaquin Valley homes is the busiest builder this year.
It’s taking longer to sell a home
The latest report from the Tulare County Association of Realtors shows that it is taking longer to sell single-family homes in the county than in past years. In August 2024 it’s taking 11% longer compared to the same month and two years ago it’s 110% longer, says the report. As of this August it’s taking over 45 days to market and sell a single-family home in Tulare County. In August 2022 it took just 22 days.
Tulare County home sales per month are down from around 350 in Aug 2021 to under 250 this last month.
Zeeb merges with Pearson
Visalia-based Zeeb Commercial Real Estate will merge with Fresno’s largest commercial broker Pearson Realty,the two companies announced recently. Zeeb Commercial Real Estate was founded in 1986 by Marty Zeeb.
California cotton plantings once covered more than 1 million acres annually, producing a crop worth more than $1 billion a year to the California agriculture economy. But by 2020, according to National Ag Statistics, cotton acreage in California was down to about 246,000. Tree crops, vines, alfalfa and corn replaced the acreage that used to be dedicated to cotton as the availability and price of water were an issue.
But last year the spring rain deluge led to a record low cotton crop -well under 100,000 acres. Now that the Tulare Lakebed has dried out and farmers have returned to their fields. California Cotton Growers exec Roger Isom expects the harvest will be around 164,000 acres this year. “It would have been more but the state did not give us a full allocation” although he is happy acres have bounded back.
In 2023 California saw just 85,000 acres compared to 115,00acres in 2022.Kings farmers harvested just 33,000 acres in a county where cotton was once king. Once a big crop in Tulare County cotton was planted on just 1500 acres.There were 30,799 acres in Fresno County (down from 34,290 acres in 2022), 7,226 acres in Kern County (down from 9,591 acres in 2022.
Just how the 164,000 acre estimate in 2024 -double what we had in 2023 – breaks down between Upland and Pima varieties is not yet released by the state Pink Bollworm program but most of it will be in long staple Pima, favored by the mills.
Kings County acreage could top 50,000 this year.
On the price front, Isom is less bullish with “guys getting just about $1.25 for their pima” and lackluster demand from China facing trouble in their economy.
Upland cotton, more widespread across the South, is fetching just $0.69 a pound after pricing closer to $1.00 this spring.It jumped to $1.40 in Spring 2022.
USDA’s Planted Acres report issued on June 28 showed that U.S. cotton growers planted an estimated 11.7 million acres of upland and Pima cotton in 2024 – up 14% from 2023. For 2024, Upland area is estimated at 11.5 million acres, a 14% increase from last year. American Pima plantings are estimated at 182,000 acres, up 24% from 2022.
The number of births at Kaweah Health in Visalia were down in the Covid years, but now have recovered to an average of over 400 monthly. Figures for July show 409 deliveries.
Perhaps impacting the number is the fact that Tulare Adventist Hospital has now closed their OB/GYN service, Just announced Family HealthCare Network will no longer route their patients to Hanford’s Adventist Health hospital for deliveries.
Kaweah Health administrator Marc Mertz says that Tulare Adventist volumes were quite low,some six deliveries a month, so” that impact given our monthly volume of over 400 will be relatively small”. Regarding the news from FHCN that change “was effective as of September 1 so it is too soon to tell how that will impact us.”
During the Colvid years through the end of 2021 the early months of the U.S. pandemic were associated with a drop in births, leading to an overall” baby bust” on the order of 100,000 fewer births that would have occurred based on pre-pandemic trends.
At Kaweah Health, the Covid quarantine has led to a decline of about 20% in the number of births at Kaweah Delta in 2020 compared to 2019. As of December 2020, the hospital reported 342 deliveries compared to 415 in December 2019 — the same trend seen every month in the past year.
Now the normal pattern has returned.
“We will continue to monitor delivery volumes closely, and we will take the necessary steps to ensure that Kaweah Health is very well prepared to provide all expectant mothers in Tulare and Kings Counties with excellent maternal care. We have a sufficient number of patient rooms to handle a higher volume of deliveries, and we will increase staffing levels and physician coverage as necessary.”
Kaweah Health’s Family Birthing Center provides maternity and infant health care. It offers the community a 21-bed labor and delivery unit, a 42-bed postpartum unit, the largest labor/delivery triage area in Tulare County with anesthesiologists, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists for high-risk deliveries and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) staffed by physicians from Valley Children’s Medical Group. Kaweah Health’s NICU is community designated by California Children’s Services as providing care for infants as early as 26-weeks gestation and has a neonatologist and pediatric hospitalist on site 24/7.
Kaweah Health adding more RNs
Working with area educational institutions Kaweah Health has a robust pipeline of new RNs that should be working with the hospital in coming years.The pipeline of new nurses expects some 73 new nurses will be added in 2026, 25 in 2027 and 50 in the year 2028.Local RN graduates should than double by 2026.
chart from Kaweah Health baby pic: Braelynn Tate Nicholson, Kaweah Health’s first baby girl of 2023.
Tulare County is unlikely to repeat as the top agricultural production county in the US for the 2023 year. In 2022 Tulare County edged out rivals Fresno and Kern counties for the top spot and bragging rights.
Milk Prices per cwt
So far this year, figures have been released for Fresno County but not for Tulare or Kern.
Tulare County generated $8.6 billion in 2022 compared to Fresno County at just over $8 billion. The primary reason Tulare County beat out both Fresno and Kern counties in 2022 was the record high price of milk that year. Kern reported a total crop value of $7.7 billion in 2022.
In 2022 dairy operators received a record $26.63 per hundredweight for their milk. But in 2023 the price dropped to just over $20.
Production of milk in Tulare County has been flat for several years at over 101 million hundredweight, still the nation’s top milk producer.
For 2023, Tulare’s all crop total is likely to hover around $8 million billion – almost $700,000 less than the year before given that we know the lower milk valuation.
Just about one-third of Tulare’s total agricultural value is generated from its dairies
Fresno takes victory lap
Fresno County recently reported all crops came in at $8.58 billion in 2023.In their report Fresno County has already declared that “ This is our highest value yet and keeps Fresno County as a top agricultural producing county in California and the nation!”
Looking at the Fresno County crop report for 2023, this county has about a quarter of the milk volume of Tulare County so it is far less dependent on this crop. In 2023, Fresno doubled its value in processing tomatoes, tripled valuation in cherries, and increased the value of pistachios by about 20%.On the downside,its valuation in citrus fell.
Milk prices nationwide gyrated from $10 a hundredweight to $25 in the past 25 years with a high in 2022 affected by the impacts of Covid 19.Farmers will tell you that in 2022 their feed costs were also the highest level ever.
second graphic: Value of milk in the US by year from Trading Economics. 2 Attachments • Scanned by Gmail
The current Associated Equipment Manufacturers report says tractor sales are down 14.1% in July compared to the year before and are down 11.9% year-to-date.
Sales are down reflecting lower crop prices including the big two – corn and soybeans.Corn futures that were at $6 a bushel last summer are down to $3.90 today.
That means incomes are down. By the end of 2024,USDA expects farm income will have decreased by more than 25% from 2023.
News reports say tractor giant John Deere is facing a backlash after announcing it was laying off hundreds of workers across the Midwest — even as it continues to operate a manufacturing hub in Mexico.
The Illinois-based company, which is the world’s largest seller of large tractors and other farm equipment, informed hundreds of employees in Iowa last month that they were out of a job.
The downturn is affecting used equipment as well.Another report says “With inventories of new equipment filling lots while consumer demand is down, dealers are taking a cautious approach with used machinery.
Infrastructure, investments, logistics and economics trump concerns over ‘woke’ policies and taxes
Company efforts to relocate corporate offices from California may be on the increase, but their operations continue here in most cases because they each have a huge market in the Golden State they don’t want to lose.
We all heard the names. Elon Musk’s companies Tesla, SpaceX and X will relocate their corporate offices. Musk has increasingly complained about the state’s “woke”policies.
Chevron too says they are moving their corporate office to Texas where taxes are non existent.Texas has no corporate or individual income tax. Locally Tulare-born Ruiz Foods said they would open their corporate office there.
But what these companies also have in common is that their everyday business depends on a significant presence in California, where the majority of their income comes from.
Take Tesla.The Company sells six times more electric vehicles in California then they do in Texas and that requires repair, dealer service and sales operations to remain in the Golden State where they have a huge stake.
Musk’s political statements recently have reduced demand for new Teslas in the Golden State that have plummeted 24% to 52,211 vehicles in Q2.
How about SpaceX that currently has a manufacturing facility and corporate office in Hawthorne California in the Los Angeles basin.The company is expanding at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where it launches vehicles into space.
Musk may move a few employees but is unlikely to move the company to Texas, says Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics in a July interview.
“You don’t pick up an enormous, complex operation like SpaceX and move it from one state to another, not without losing half your workforce, which SpaceX can hardly afford to do,” Thornberg said.
SpaceX has a pretty unique workforce of rocket scientists, “who don’t exactly grow on trees,” he added.
“They are not everywhere, and you need to hire them where they live and they start to live where they are hired,” Thornberg added.
Headquarters move all the time, he said, adding that it would only impact 200 or 300 employees, a small percentage of the 13,000 employees SpaceX has overall.
“Would he go as far as to move his production facilities to Texas?” Thornberg asked. “Not a chance.”
SpaceX’s 1-million-square-foot campus in Hawthorne, though, is home to more than just offices — it’s also the company’s primary production and processing facility for its Falcon 9 workhorse and Falcon Heavy rockets.
“ people who live here, live here for a reason — and you’re not going to convince a lot of these people to get up and move to Texas, simple as that.”
That’s part of the issue with these corporate moves. The workforce, which has a long history in California, does not have much interest in moving to sweaty Houston Texas, not known for its quality of life.How do you cool off when the average Gulf water temp is 86 degrees?
“ people who live here, live here for a reason — and you’re not going to convince a lot of these people to get up and move to Texas, simple as that.”
There’s another reason why SpaceX is expanding in California right now, including its partnership with the Department of Defense utilizing Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Writing In the Santa Maria Times in July, former military official Andrew Hackleman, a member of the Governor’s Military Council and the Governor’s Space Industry Task Force wrote “Today, Vandenberg Space Force Base is an integral part of our national security infrastructure. SpaceX is now launching nearly every week from VSFB with reusable rockets.
These missions include launches for the U.S. Space Force and other U.S. Department of Defense customers, U.S. civil agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for climate and environmental monitoring, and for commercial customers, including allied governments.
Similar to the successful partnership with commercial operators for launches, the U.S. government also relies on commercial companies like SpaceX for global low Earth orbit satellite systems.
These systems, including U.S. government owned and operated satellites, require frequent launches, which are only possible with multiple launch sites across the United States.
The pace of launch that Vandenberg provides isn’t the only vital aspect of VSFB as a launch site. Vandenberg is also the only feasible site in the U.S. for launches into polar orbit.”
Indeed this summary of the logistics of Vandenberg says it all from the US Flight Centennial Commission.
“Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is often referred to by its workers as America’s quiet launch site, is located at 34.7 degrees north latitude, at a spot on the rugged Central California coast where the shoreline runs east and west. Because of this unique geography, rockets launched from Vandenberg can fly nearly due south and not cross over land until they reach Antarctica. This is ideal for launches to polar orbit, because spent rocket stages or failed launches pose no threat to inhabited land. Vandenberg has therefore been the launch site for numerous reconnaissance and Earth observation satellites that require polar orbits.”
Polar orbits are used for earth mapping, reconnaissance satellites, and in some weather satellites.
Instead of pulling out of California, SpaceX hopes to expand its operation at Vandenberg with one report saying”The partnership was previously approved for six launches per year. SpaceX has already completed 26 launches of Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg in 2024. They are expected to submit a request in October to boost that schedule to 50 annual launches, and later 100 annual launches.”
This situation illustrates the greater truth that Californa’s location adjacent to the Pacific Ocean is a critical reason why companies find doing business in the Golden State profitable and indeed, necessary. California is where trade with the Far East happens. Its ports are the busiest in the nation. Goods flow in and out of here and it is hubs for rail and air, as well as military bases that can only be located here.
In a word, this is where the action is.
This month the port of Los Angeles is booming in part because of troubles in other parts of the world, including the closing of shipping in the Red Sea and water shortage in the Panama Canal that is steering more traffic to the West Coast this summer, port officials. But it’s not just location. It’s a strategy of investment in key economic infrastructure that is making a difference whether that’s in our ports or in our colleges.
A few more location principles include the fact that California has one of the few spots in the world with the Mediterranean climate enabling it to be the top agricultural production state in the US with most diversity of crops.It is fortified by investment in water moving infrastructure that has happened over the last 70 years.California has double the irrigated acres of Texas where farms depend on rainfall for mostly field crops. If you want to grow oranges or Pima cotton or milk cows, it makes sense to do it in California. Again, economic factors trump the politics.
California has beneficial storms coming into the state from the moist Pacific hitting our high mountains, where the moisture stored as snow – later feeds the extensive state reservoir system. Only because of this investment, rain that falls by 2/3 in the northern half of the state irrigates the southern part of the state where 2/3 of the people live.
Texas has few mountains and that’s why Texans vacation Colorado. In the Golden State, you can go skiing in the morning and surfing in the evening.Can’t do that in the “Panhandle.”
One commenter noted that only “one has a stunningly beautiful 800+ mile coastline, 9 national parks, and subjectively the best Mexican and Asian cuisine this country has to offer.”
Texas, unlike California, has not seen multiple waves of immigrants over the decades that have been welcomed here. Then there is a tradition of tolerance here – unlike Texas that restricts reproductive health for women and once enslaved black people.
California is also home to many of the best universities in the US that help foster innovation and talent beyond any other location in the US. The cluster of innovation for the US is in the Silicon Valley in the Bay Area.Some 41 of the top 50 most valuable companies in California are headquartered in the Bay Area as of May 2024 and amazingly, 80 of the top 100 companies in the state have their corporate offices in the greater SF area showing the breadth of the area’s dominance.
West Coast Dominance
Led by Nvidia,Apple and Alphabet (Google) these companies are also number 2,3 and 4 in the United States with Microsoft, based in Minnesota, listed as number one.
Meta (Facebook) is in the top 10, based in Palo Alto.Other top 10 companies are also from the West Coast based in Seattle including Microsoft,Amazon and Costco. Besides computer companies – California sports top financial firms Visa and Wells Fargo – both based in San Francisco.Nationwide 4 of the top 10 companies in the US are based in the Bay Area.
Anyway back to other companies leaving the state.
Oil giant Chevron wants to move headquarters out of the Bay Area too.
One part of their business that they are unlikely to relocate is over 1800+ Chevron gas stations in California where the company has about a 15% market share of retail gas sales. In terms of retail sales, California is a much more important market than Texas where there are just over 1100 stations.The company will continue operating two of the state’s nine remaining refineries and continue pulling oil from the ground
Chevron gas stations in California are infamous in that they uniformly are the most expensive option for motors in almost every market in the state. Chevron has secured crossroad locations in towns, large and small up and down the state where they are sometimes the only choice.
But motorists fed up with high gas prices are increasingly shopping around for cheaper gas like in Lemoore, California,sometimes a dollar cheaper per gallon.
Despite chatter about the Bay Area losing Chevron the company itself said recently “There would be minimal immediate relocation impacts to other employees currently based in San Ramon, with positions in support of the company’s California operations remaining in San Ramon.”
Chevron currently has roughly 7,000 employees in the Houston area and approximately 2,000 employees in San Ramon.” Somebody has to collect all that money from California motorists.
As for Ruiz Foods – production will remain in Tulare County serving California where people eat more burritos than in Texas.It is where your salad comes from too.
Members of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) along with CARB and San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District staff toured the Bar 20 farm owned by Steve Shehadey in western Fresno County recently looking to evaluate the dairy community’s emissions trends and see the technology farms are using to cut harmful air emissions. These visitors are responsible for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane, as well as air quality pollutants including oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For some on the tour, whether CARB Board Members or staff, this was their first time visiting a dairy.
The regulators are under tremendous pressure to end the state incentive program that the dairy industry is fighting to save.
A recent report says California has 238 dairy digestive projects from 259 dairy farms with 129 of these in operation and the remainder in development
According to a report in last week’s Milk Producers Council(MPC) newsletter ” thanks to the Shehadey family, we were able to showcase a variety of sustainable technologies on a single dairy, which we noted are being employed on many dairies throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Our regulator audience learned about animal care, carousel milking parlors, weeping walls, nutrient management, digesters, fuel cells, electric feed-mixing wagons, feeding byproducts, solar panels, as well as hydrogen production from dairy biogas.”
Milk Producers Council notes that” We’re more than halfway toward meeting the State’ 2030 goal of reducing manure methane emissions by 40% from 2013 levels, anaccording to expert analysis by CARB, we will hit that mark.”
“How have California dairy families achieved this impressive milestone? Collaboration. Thanks to CARB’s voluntary, incentive-based approach, our dairy families have significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, all while creating renewable energy and carbon-negative transportation fuel.”
There are about 20 digesters in Kings County and over 50 in Tulare County where milk is the top crop.
But anti-dairy activists want to end the state program helping dairies cut emissions.
Last year nearly 200 environmental groups called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reconsider extending federal funding to farms that turn manure into biofuel through anaerobic digestion, arguing it undermines the agency’s effort to fight climate change, says one report,″Manure biogas entrenches factory farms, worsens market consolidation, deepens environmental injustices with air and water pollution, fails to address climate change, and is a waste of taxpayer resources,” the groups wrote in a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
MPC says the activists promulgate several myths:
MYTH #1 The California dairy industry is growing due to incentive-based programs to install digesters. FACT If you’re done laughing (or crying), here are the numbers. More than 1,000 dairy farms have gone out of business in California over the past 20 years. But surely you’re thinking those cows just went to other dairies so that the total California herd size remained the same, and according to activists, probably even grew so digesters could be built, right?!? Nope. Look at the graph below. You’ll see that since the adoption of SB 1383 to regulate methane, the California milk cow population has been in steady decline.
And now for the icing on the cake. At the hearing in Fresno on Thursday, CARB staff reported that an “analyses of dairy trends suggest that there has not been any relationship between the installation of digesters and dairy growth rates.” That’s from CARB’s own detailed analysis from years of work to accurately quantify California’s herd size.
MYTH #2 Lagoon manure-holding ponds are being built on dairies just because of digesters. FACT Lagoons have been an integral part of California dairy farming since the 1980s. Their advent – and prevalence today – has nothing to do with dairy digesters or methane. In short, lagoons were designed to promote cow health, improve manure management, and protect water quality. Lagoons help keep cows clean, thanks to a gravity flush system that removes manure from barn floors with recycled water. This flush water is stored in the lagoon where it is recycled throughout the year as a nutrient-rich fertilizer to grow feed for cows. Having a lagoon on a dairy also provides stormwater protection to ensure that all water used on the farm stays on the farm, where it can be recycled multiple times.
MYTH #3 Dairies are actively working to maximize methane production from manure due to the installation of digesters. FACT Dairies – including those with digesters – are doing the opposite. As we showed our tour guests on Wednesday, the Shehadey family is avoiding methane production from manure thanks to its use of a weeping wall in front of its digester. Conservatively, the weeping wall is reducing methane emissions by 60%. Many dairies are using some type of mechanical solids separator in front of a digester, which can reduce methane emissions from manure by up to 30% before hitting the digester.Weeping walls offer non-mechanical separation of manure solids from water that reduce methane production while improving management of nitrogen.
Voters Strongly Support State’s Dairy Methane Reduction Efforts
Recent statewide and San Joaquin Valley voter research demonstrates that California’s current incentive-based programs to reduce livestock methane are broadly supported. This means voters share the views of state and local elected leaders who support the incentive-based approach.
As shown below, the current incentive programs provided by the state to California’s dairy farmers for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and producing renewable natural gas are strongly supported.
The current programs are supported by 69% of voters statewide with 42% of voters “strongly” in support. Support is strongest among democrats (80%) and independent voters (73%).
Voters also recognize farming and food production as essential to the state’s economy with 86% of voters describing the industry as “very important,” leading all industries by a wide margin.
California has implemented a highly successful incentive-based approach to dairy methane reduction. Support for these incentives is clear and unmistakable. Two-thirds of voters (65%) statewide and three-quarters (72%) in the San Joaquin Valley oppose having the state directly regulate dairy farms and eliminate current incentive programs.
This week the Kings County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an application for a $58 million heavy-duty electric truck charging station that would be built in Kettleman City along I/5. The project will be constructed with outside funding at no cost to the county. Trucking companies, freight and logistics firms in the state are under pressure to meet California fleet mandates that call for converting the state’s 1.8 million commercial trucks to emissions-free vehicles over the next 20 years. A number of manufactures are now offering electric big rigs. But they need a place to charge rapidly.
Some 14,000+ big rig diesel trucks per day pass the site
Kettleman City is in the sweet spot halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Some 14,000+ big rig diesel trucks per day pass the site on I-5.Diesel trucks are one of the largest contributors to air pollution in Kings County.
SkyCharger, LLChas reached out to the County to request assistance in applying for funding under the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Round 2 Grant Program, which requires a local government to submit the application. SkyCharger is proposing the development, construction, and operation of a state-of-the-art electric vehicle (EV) charging station on Bernard Drive in Kettleman City. This 14 acre facility will serve medium and heavy-duty trucks (MHDVs) as well as light-duty EVs, addressing the growing demand in the region and supporting California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) goals.
It is currently anticipated that an application for a Site Review Plan will be filed with Kings County by January 2025, with approval expected in April 2025. It could open in 2026.The development is anticipated to take approximately 9 months to complete.
The project will have no impact on the General Fund. In total, the project will cost about $58,210,390, of which the County will request CFI federal funding of $35,679,424. SkyCharger will be responsible for covering the remaining balance through other funding sources, including renewable energy and EV charging station tax credits, additional grants and rebates through Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), programs such as the Carl Moyer Fund via the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and sponsor equity.
The station is strategically located to support California’s goal of transitioning to ZEVs by 2045 and will facilitate a charging corridor extending from Oregon to Mexico.
The project aims to reduce emissions, provide economic and workforce development benefits, and address high demand for EV charging in the region. It will feature advanced energy resources, including a 1-megawatt (MW)/4- megawatt hour (MWh) battery storage system and a 3.86 MW solar canopy, supporting 56 dual-port direct current (DC) fast chargers.
Over 15 years, it is conservatively estimated to avoid 230,433 lbs of CO2 and tens of thousands of pounds of other GHGs.
Bakersfield project open
The Kettleman charging station will not be the first in the Valley with WATT EV opening an electric truck charging station in May of this year near Bakersfield on 119 acres. The company says this state-of-the art station features 16 dual-cord 360kW chargers connected to the grid and 15 single-cord 240kW CCS chargers, plus three MCS 1,200kW rapid chargers, drawing power from the site’s solar array. Significantly, the MCS chargers will bring down truck charging “dwell time” from hours to less than 30 minutes, said WattEV CEO Salim Youssefzadeh.
TravelCenters of America is also building a similar facility near Ontario.
Construction of giant Visalia industrial building complete
As of early August of this year construction of the 1.27 million square-foot industrial building at 4001 N. Plaza in Visalia is complete. So confirms Pat Daniels of Cap Rock Partners, based in Newport. Built as a speculative building, the approximate $100 million investment has yet to attract a tenant although the marketing company talking to possible tenants says they have good interest. Cap Rock built two other large ‘spec’ buildings nearby, both filled by Amazon. It appears Amazon will not take this third complex however. Industrial activity in Visalia has slowed in the past year as it has nationwide, although there are numerous large projects in the pipeline here.
Alejandra’s Mexican restaurant expected to open in October
More than two years after an arson-caused fire claimed the building occupied by popular Mexican restaurant Alejandra’s and next-door sandwich store Jimmy Johns, reconstruction of the Mexican restaurant continues this week.The building itself is owned by the Franey family. Owner, Roque Salinas says they are several months behind where they thought they would be by now, but expects to open in October to the great relief of many Visalia customers. Next-door Jimmy Johns is open for business. At Alejandras “they’re putting in tile in the restaurant right now, ” says Roque.
The Mix wants outdoor dining
On Main Street in Visalia, the new food court eatery called The Mix has filed plans with the city to put in 4 outdoor tables for street side dining.
Nordstrom racks up profits
Retailer Nordstrom with a new location Visalia has reported good sales in 2024 after several rough years. Financial reports say in the last couple of quarters,” momentum has been growing at Nordstrom Rack (located at the Sequoia Mall) and has helped prop up the company’s overall results. During the quarter, sales at Nordstrom Rack were up 8.8%, while comparable sales increased 4.1% compared to the same period a year ago.”At the department store division sales increased by 0.9%
CapRock’s new building enjoys access just off Plaza Dr
