Getting Tired: Bidding is on to build the new 9100 sf America’s Tire Store on the westside of So Mooney,north of Packwood Creek on a vacant parcel. The Arizona company is the nation’s largest independent tire dealer with 850 stores currently.The store would open by the end this year. Rival dealer Les Schwab Tire Centers is eyeing another Mooney site.
Dickey’s BBQ Pit will open at 4119 S Mooney – next to Buffalo Wild Wings in the Packwood Creek shopping center. According to Restaurant News “this Dallas-based restaurant was founded in 1941 but didn’t start franchising until 1995. Moving slowly at first, Dickey’s opened 66 new restaurants in 2011, bringing it to 203 units. Today it operates 311 restaurants in 39 states.”
Former Mooney Drive Inn Could Be Department of Education Building: Visalians remember the drive inn closing in 2006 in a wave of nostalgic memories. Now the Tulare County Dept. of Education has floated a preliminary plan to build an 87,000 sf admin office on the 11 acre spot near Mooney’s Grove. Spokesman for the agency Rob Herman says the department has yet to decide to move forward on the idea to relocate their Civic Center offices to Mooney.He adds that if they did – the current 2 office buildings on Burrell would revert to county use .
Speaking of former buildings – the Adventure Park family fun center on 198 in Hanford that shut down in 2011 and has been an eyesore since – will now be transformed into a veterinary clinic. The fun center on Glendale Ave had a 15 year run until it shut down due to the poor economy. Now the economy is back and Hanford Veterinary Hospital is building a 8000 sf facility valued at $1.4 million on the 7 acre parcel.
51.3% of Tulare County Belongs To Government: So says an American Farmland Trust report that compares land ownership in the Valley in 1998 and 2013.Their survey says government ownership in Tulare County stood at 52.1% in 1998.The net change in federal land ownership increased 23 sq. miles while state land ownership increased 1.7 sq. miles. Meanwhile, 21.6 miles of land was annexed into the county’s cities during that same period. AFT is concerned about loss of ag land. The largest acreage of federal land added is in SW Tulare County where farm land high in selenium and salt was retired.
Visalia new home building permit activity is the strongest of the year or years for that matter. In July permits for 38 single family homes were issued.Year-to-date home permits are up 58%.
Year-to-date home permits for the Central Valley show Lennar is the busiest home builder with 277 units being built through July – about double the number-two builder Granville Homes.
Existing home sales recorded in June in Tulare County totaled 435 says DQ News with a median price of $150,000 – up 13.2% from last year. Visalia’s median was $173,000 – up 15.3% from last year’s $150,000.
Who is the Valley’s largest commercial builder by dollar value so far this year? It’s Immodo Energy with $43.5 million in permits for solar farms being built now -scattered around Tulare County and feeding into the grid later this year.
Oil prices may be way up but California gas prices are down this week says AAA. The association says Visalia area prices average $3.91 this week, 3 cents lower than last week.