Category: Business

_September 2,2022-

Locally-owned Palace Food Depot will close its doors in October according to a state WARN notice announcing they will lay off 68 employees. The full service supermarket, an IGA affiliate, is located on West St and is the only market in this part of the community. Most of Tulare’s full- service supermarkets are east of Highway 99 in the city’s northeast quadrant.

But sources say independent market chain Superior Grocers of Southern California will open here shortly after Palace closes their doors. Superior Grocers opened its first store in Covina, California in 1981. Since then, Superior has grown to over 69 stores throughout Southern California.The company website says “ We have prospered in neighborhoods where others failed because of our commitment to, and investment in, the communities we serve.” Their closest location is in Bakersfield. Tulare will be the store’s furthest venture north.

Superior recently announced an expansion about a month ago.Superior Grocers announced in July that it has acquired Numero Uno, an independent chain of 22 Hispanic retail grocery stores in Southern California. Superior Grocers will now operate 69 grocery stores in Southern California- 70 with Tulare.

One the owners of the Palace, Steve Gong confirmed a company would open at this building after the Palace closes but couldn’t confirm the buyer’s name.He added most of the employees will be rehired.Gong will continue to manage the strip shopping center on West St and says business is good “with no vacancies.”

Gong complains that Tulare has not permitted even one fast food restaurant west of the city’s railroad tracks and suggests developers are missing the boat since there are “lots of people” in the area.

“I have to travel more than a mile to buy a hamburger” observes Gong.

Tulare building offices point out there are several large new subdivisions breaking ground on the city’s westside that in the past has been seen as the low-income side of town.A similar transformation has happened on Visalia’s north side.

Besides this news, the vacant R&N Market that has been shut down on Bardsley for some time may come back to life.Owner Wayne Chun says a new tenant will occupy the RN building but would not confirm who that user might be.

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.

-August 4,2022-

Strong dollar hurts exports

California’s share of the nation’s merchandise export trade slipped to its lowest level in decades in June (the latest numbers), according to a Beacon Economics’ analysis of U.S. trade statistics released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The state’s share of total U.S. exports was 8.8%, down from 10.2% one year earlier and down from 10.1% in pre-pandemic June 2019.

Heightened rates of Inflation in the United States and abroad continue to complicate efforts to gauge the true value of exports from the nation as well as from California. Today’s report from the Census provides state-of-origin export statistics that are not adjusted for price changes. However, U.S. export prices this June were up 18.2% percent from one year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The gap between nominal and real export values is the widest we’ve seen in nearly two decades,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Advisor. The Census Bureau reports that, while U.S. merchandise exports in June were nominally up by 23.6% from one year ago, the year-over-year gain was just 7.5% when adjusted for price changes.

Beacon Economics does not construct a separate export price index for the enormous variety of goods California businesses ship abroad. Still, there is no question that, in real terms, the state’s export trade actually contracted in June.

Nominally, California exported goods valued at $16.218 billion in June, an 8.4% jump over the $14.967 billion recorded in June 2021. Exports of manufactured goods nominally rose by 7.0% to $10.129 billion from $9.463 billion one year earlier.

Logistical snags at the state’s major seaports contributed to the nominal 2.6% fall-off in California’s exports of non-manufactured goods (chiefly agricultural products and raw materials) to $2.070 billion from last June’s $2.126 billion. Re-exports, meanwhile, jumped by 19.0% to $4.019 billion from $3.378 billion. Year-to-date, the state’s exports have totaled $93.637 billion, 8.7% ahead of the $86.152 billion recorded at this time one year earlier.

The real fall-off in exports from a year ago was partially reflected in a 3.3% year-over-year decline in the volume of containerized tonnage that sailed from California’s three major ports in June as well as an 11.9% decrease in export tonnage from Los Angeles International Airport and a 10.0% drop from San Francisco International

Plan calls for 60-silos

-July 28,2022-

Western Fresno County already has the big 100-silo Wonderful Pistachio plant and a big Assemi family plant (Touchstone) on the drawing board since 2018, a 49-silo project, that has been challenged by Wonderful and delayed for four years in this highly competitive industry. Now the Stamoules family wants to join the party to build a large pistachio hulling, processing, and packing facility on a 98-acres on the northwest corner of S. Newcomb Avenue and W. Muscat Avenue approximately 9.7 mile south of the City of Firebaugh. Once all phases are complete the plant would sport 60-silos.

Stamoules Produce Co., Inc., based in Mendota was launched in the 1920s as a cantaloupe grower when the Greek founder Spero Stamoules immigrated to the US.

According to their application to the County, the proposed project would be implemented in four phases, and each phase would include the construction and addition of buildings, working areas and equipment to increase the capacity of the project site.

Phase I of the project would include the construction of a 16,893 square-foot huller building, an approximately 5,608 square-foot drive-over dumping pit area, and an approximately 3,900 square-foot pre-cleaning area. Ten 8 by 29 feet dryers and 18 52- by 52-foot galvanized steel silos, each of 2,200,000-pound capacity, would be added to the project site west of the proposed huller building under Phase I of the proposed project.

Phase II of the project would include the construction of a 155,169-square-foot processing building for pistachios.

Phase III of the project would include the installation of processing, sorting, and packing equipment in the pistachio processing building, as well as the construction of twelve additional silos and the installation of ten additional dryer units.

Finally, Phase IV of the project would include the construction of a second 16,893-square-foot huller building, an additional drive-over dumping pit area and pre-cleaning area, and the construction and installation of 30 additional silos and 20 dryer units.

Pictured -Wonderful plant near Firebaugh

Family Healthcare Network corporate office move is pending.  FHCN is looking to occupy their new corporate office as soon as later this August says company spokesperson Stacey Beachy. Remodel of the former two story Picnic Sandwich building in Downtown Visalia has been underway for many month and is now nearing completion. Picnic closed their sandwich restaurant in 2019 after over 50 years.

The upper floor space used by FHCN will be nearly 13,000sf. The clinic network occupies a number of buildings in the Downtown Visalia area  and will keep staff at their current corporate office at the former Razzarri building at 305 E Center.The healthcare network bought the Picnic-based Town Plaza building, 114 W. Main St., and is remodeling it for a variety of uses. Earlier reports say the ground floor will keep a retail space for a local restaurant, or possibly a demonstration kitchen, as well as a small bookstore to expand FHCN’s literacy program.

The Visalia City Planning Commission will hear a request for a conditional use permit  August 8, 2022 from the Kaweah Health Medical Group to establish a 5,280 square foot medical clinic on a 0.5-acre parcel in the Industrial (I) Zone District. The site is located at the northwest corner of North Plaza Drive and West Placer Avenue.

Visalia Mall announces the leasing of the former Things Remembered space approximately 1,200 sq. ft. to Pandora Jewelry  who features a variety of necklaces, rings, customizable charm bracelets & more. Opening is schedule for the 4th quarter.

Porterville will get new steakhouse. Penrose Steakhouse is  proposing a tenant improvements of existing building (7,711 sf) and addition (1,854 sf) at 195 N. Hocket Street. The Downtown location is at  the Corner of Mill and Hockett right next to the Post Office. The building was a former funeral home.

But wants rebate of bed tax for 15 years

-July. 28,2022-

With the expectation that the Great Wolf Resort project at Highway 99 and Caldwell would attract some 600,000 visitors a year, the developer has convinced the County to rebate much of the bed tax or TOT that would normally go to taxpayers over the first 15 years. Chicago-based Great Wolf says there are similar agreements with cities and counties elsewhere and that the rebates help secure financing for the huge project.

How huge? A County consultant pegs the economic impact of the construction of the 35-acre destination resort at $1.7 billion.

The deal, to be voted on this week, also includes a deferral of certain impact fees which will be recaptured through TOT revenue.The staff report says “ Without these incentives, Great Wolf Resorts would not be able to move forward with financing the construction of the proposed development project. These requests are commensurate with economic incentives approved by jurisdictions where Great Wolf Resorts or other similar large-scale resorts have located.”

The County justifies the incentive package since the revenue source would not exist without the project and like many other jurisdictions, has negotiated with the project developer to rebate a share of future TOT to increase initial project feasibility.

How much is the public giving up to make this happen? A County analysis says during the 15 year subsidy period Great Wolf will receive $87 million of monies that would normally go to the County General Fund. At the same time, the County’s take of the TOT is $33 million.

But the County says their General Fund will not lose money any year and will grow by several million dollars every year, not just from TOT income but property taxes and taxable visitor spending that not only boosts the County but also nearby City of Visalia including Downtown.

Back in February the Board of Supervisors approved an Amendment to the Sequoia Gateway Commerce Center Specific Plan to allow the entitlement of the 35-acre hotel.The county now expects that the final map and development agreement will be completed by the end of this year making it likely project could start a two-year construction schedule next year.

The proposed 525-room hotel features an indoor water park and restaurants, meeting space, and a family activity center to be opened to both hotel guests and other visitors. The proposed resort includes a “higher end” concept to be housed within a separate structure adjacent to the main rooms building.Catering to families, the resort has in addition to a water park, restaurants, arcades, spas, and children’s activities.

Here is how the TOT subsidy works:
The TOT rebate steps down in 5-year increments over 15 years:
– 100% of the TOT generated during the first 5 years of operation will be rebated to Great Wolf.
– 75% of the TOT generated during operational years 6-10 will be rebated to Great Wolf; 25% to remain with the County.
– 50% of the TOT generated during operational years 11-15 will be rebated to Great Wolf; 50% to remain with the County.
– After 15 years of operation, the County will keep 100% of TOT revenues.

Great Wolf will use the TOT tax rebates to pay their deferred county fees without interest over the five year initial period.

Hotel/waterpark guests are typically families and can include extended families and groups of friends & family. Parties will typically stay 2-3 days or more and often travel a few hours to reach the resort. Visitors to the proposed resort would likely come from throughout the San Joaquin Valley and beyond. While many visitors will spend most of their time within the resort’s facilities during their stay, others will venture off-site to purchase retail goods, seek alternative dining options, or simply explore the area, says the consultant report.

The City of Visalia is expected to capture the greatest share of off-site visitor spending for both general retail and food service-about $15 million annually.The project will use the City of Visalia sewer system. Source says the City declined to offer guarantees to fix the connection installed by the project in case it fails. As to the water source for the hotel and pools – CalWater would serve the resort.

As for jobs the report says they could generate almost 1000 jobs during the construction period and 660 at the resort once it is operating.The financial estimate uses a room count of 525 hotel rooms but the actual number may range from 450 to 700 says the report.The landowner and developer of the resort will be GWR Tulare LLC, an affiliate of Great Wolf Resorts.

The company has 19 locations across the US and 3 under construction.Their first project dates from 1997.The most recent nearby project was the opening of the Great Wolf Resort in Manteca.There is also a location in Anaheim.

A public hearing this week will be held on the economic incentive package.
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-July 26,2022-
Monsoon activity should help Arizona- Colorado drought

Storms in Arizona, Utah and Colorado should being good rainfall in this dry part of the country in the next few weeks.The monsoon season is said to be active one this year. Arizona’s monsoon season begins in June and continues through September.

NPR reports that Arizona is experiencing its worst drought in 1,200 years, but in one place there’s too much water. Hundreds of homes in Flagstaff are threatened by brief monsoon thunderstorms on wildfire burn scars.

NOAA predicts grim precip forecast for December through February

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecast for this winter season is a grim one when ti comes to precipitation. The seasonal forecast suggest below average rain across the southern tier of the US including most of California for the typical rainy months of December through February.

Porterville, CA – July 12, 2022: Sierra View Medical Center (SVMC) recently welcomed 14 new Internal Medical Residents to SVMC’s accredited, community-based Internal Medical program. As of July 1, they officially started alongside supervising attending physicians and senior residents.

“This marks the next step in the evolution of our residency program,” said Dr. Paul Watanakunakorn, MD, SVMC Residency Program Director. “This year we now have second year residents with the benefit of the previous year’s learning and experience available to help teach and mentor the first year residents, along with the supervising physicians who taught them.”

In the next 12 months of training for the new residents, there will be an emphasis on basic skills and rapid accumulation of medical knowledge needed to practice. The residents will spend most of their time on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Sierra View Medical Center within the Med/Surg, ICU, and Telemetry units. To give them exposure to outpatient medicine, they will be learning within surrounding medical offices that specialize in areas such as Cardiology, Nephrology and Endocrinology as well as primary care.

Of the new residents, 12 will be at SVMC for three years and two residents are preliminary and will be leaving after one year to pursue another specialty. During their residency program, each resident will gain the skills that enrich their careers with real-life experiences. These experiences also benefit our healthcare system that directly impact the community as well.

“The residency program is both a short-term and long-term benefit for the community,” said Dr. Watanakunakorn. “In the short term, having these additional physicians as part of the care team here at SVMC means more caregivers, more eyes on patients, and more timely care. It has been especially important over the last year when we have experienced surges in admissions to the hospital – the added physicians kept the system from being overwhelmed and helped to expedite care. In the long term, the residency program plays an important role in medical care in the area moving forward, as we are hopefully training some physicians that will end up staying in the area and become practicing physicians for the citizenry of Porterville and the surrounding areas for the future.”

After much anticipation for the new second cohort of the Internal Medicine Graduate Medicine Education residents, SVMC is thrilled that they are here. This program is an integral part of their journey and the organization is excited for them to be learning among some of the most professional, knowledgeable and humble staff.