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.

Some 543 workers at the Bank Of America Fresno call center will be laid off by the end of next month. The bank notified the state through a mandated WARN notice this week of the pending layoffs to take place as of  August 31.

The call center on Palm opened in Fresno in 2000.  B of A has announced a downsizing of its US workforce this year.

 

July 3, 2013 – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – California’s export trade receded again in May, according to an analysis by Beacon Economics of foreign trade data released today by the U.S. Commerce Department. The state’s merchandise export trade in May 2013 totaled $13.25 billion, down 4.5% from the $13.88 billion in exports posted in the same month last year. Exports of manufactured items fell from $9.18 billion last May to $8.56 billion this May. Exports of non-manufactured goods (chiefly agricultural produce and raw materials) rose from $1.70 billion to $1.78 billion, while re-exports declined from $3.00 billion to $2.91 billion. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, California’s May export trade was also down 1.9% from April’s level.   Year-to-date, California’s overall export trade is down from $66.79 billion last year to $66.70 billion. Similarly, there was a slight 0.3% decline in the value of U.S. export shipments that departed the country via California’s maritime and aviation gateways in May. “For the most part, the trend lines are abundantly inauspicious,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Adviser.   Because data on specific export commodities and their destinations can vary abruptly from month to month for a host of reasons, Beacon Economics compares the latest three months with the corresponding period in the previous year. “Curiously, while Europe’s tribulations are clearly hampering economic growth in China and other export-dependent economies in Asia, California’s merchandise exports to the European Union have actually been up a full ten percent in the past three months,” O’Connell said. By contrast, the state’s exports to the Far East declined by 3.4% in the last three months, despite a 11.2% rise in the value of shipments to China. Mexico remains California’s top export market, with Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea rounding out the top five. As has been the case since late last summer, a very substantial fall-off in exports of personal computer components has been the chief factor in restraining California’s export trade. In the past three months, the state’s exports of those items fell 22% from the same period a year earlier. “Surging worldwide consumer demand for smartphones and tablets has led to a dramatic restructuring of global supply chains in the electronics components sector,” O’Connell said. “I’m afraid this shake-out has yet to run its course.” It hasn’t dramatically impacted the tech heavy San Francisco Bay Area economy however. “San Jose and San Francisco continue to be two of the strongest economies in the state,” said Beacon Economics Founding Partner Christopher Thornberg. “Computers and computer parts are really only a small part of what is happening in these locations nowadays. Investment and growth in social media, bio and green tech, and software are all more than able to pick up the slack.” Beacon Economics’ current outlook for the state’s exporters is not upbeat. Both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have pared back their expectations of economic growth in most major markets, and there is no compelling reason to doubt such assessments. China’s economic growth is obviously slowing, and once promising major emerging economies such as Brazil and India have lately gone wobbly. Still, with the US dollar 20% below where it was a decade ago in real terms, the new U.S. competitiveness has allowed exports to remain stable despite grim news on the global front. In the short term the United States and California will have to look internally for growth, which is being helped along by a resurgent housing market and rising worker incomes. “It does seem as if Europe has at least found a bottom, and with Japan continuing to stimulate their economy and better numbers on consumer spending in China, we can hope that export growth will return by next year,” Thornberg said. ###

Mortgage Rates Reverse Course,Tick Down
Mortgage rates ticked down this past week says Freddie Mac,dropping from 4.46% last week to 4.29% the week ending July 3. Rates rose in recent weeks and mortgage applications slumped 11.7% for the week ending July 3, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association. Talk of higher home financing rates has fueled concern over the housing recovery. With the 10-year note heading higher July 5, rates could be going back up quickly.
Visalia Home Permits Higher
But in Visalia the housing recovery rolls on with new home permits up 64% for the first half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. In June the city permitted 34 new homes compared to 28 for June 2012.The increase puts the city on pace do more than 320 new homes this year, the best year since 2010,before the worst of the recession, when we permitted that exact number.It is still a long way from the overheated market of 2005 when 1450 homes were built here.
Bonadelle Builds In Visalia
Tulare County’s top home builders this year are familiar names, McMiilin Homes with 41 permits so far,Lennar with 46, local player Smee Builders with 33, Centex with 26 ,Woodside with 24 and West Star with 25. Absent the list is one the Valley’s largest builders – Fresno’s Bonadelle Homes who,as of this spring, entered the Visalia market offering new homes at Country Club Court – north of Goshen Ave at County Center. Homes start at $199,950.Sales counselor Steven Hensley says the first phase will build 62 houses on the way to a 226 home subdivision. The company is partnering with Granville Homes.

County Unemployment Rate Plunges

Led by manufacturing jobs the unemployment rate in the Tulare County was 12.0 percent in May 2013, down from a revised13.6 percent in April 2013, and below the year-ago estimate of 14.8 percent. In May 2012 there were 31,600 residents unemployed. In May of this year that number is down to 25,500 – over a 19 percent improvement. The county added 900 more manufacturing jobs in the past year even though farm jobs are down year over year.

Tulare County’s Median Home Price jumped 24% in the last year,from$127,020 in May 2012 to $157,500 in May 2013 CAR reports.But sales fell 8.1% in the past year and were up month over month by 8.5%.

Six strong home builders in the county through the first half of the year – good competition – led by Lennar with 40 permits,McMillin with 36,Smee 30,Centex 26, West Star with 25 and Woodside with 24. Developer Harvey May says “somebody turned the switch on.”

Solar installations are the biggest construction category in the county this year.Residential solar permits number428 valued at nearly $12 million and on the commercial side there were 15 permits valued at $47 million- about half the commercial construction total for the county during the first half of 2013.

Dollar General has flied a preliminary site plan with the City of Visalia for a new store in the former Harbor Freight space at 1847 S Mooney in Visalia this month. The company is also planning a new 9100sf store to be built in Earlimart that will be the subject of a county Planning Commission meeting June 26. The store will be located at the northwest corner of Ave 56,some 90 feet east of Hwy
99.

Sleep Train will open a store on South Mooney in the Dicks Sporting Goods shopping center taking some 4500sf at the south end of the shopping center. The company is the largest mattress retailer on the west cost.The outlet will be called Mattress Discounter.

 

Fresno State’s Craig School of Business San Joaquin Valley Business Conditions Index continues to point toward growth despite declining for the second straight month. The overall index slid in May to 54.6 from 57.3 in April. An index of greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy over the course of the next three to six months.

“Expanding economic conditions in the region’s construction industry continue to boost growth prospects for the region, with firms linked to housing experiencing improving economic conditions,” said Dr. Ernie Goss, a research faculty from the Craig School who produces the index. “A boost in new export orders for the month also supported the overall reading.”

The index is a leading economic indicator from a survey of individuals making company purchasing decisions in the counties of Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare. The index uses the same methodology as that of the national Institute for Supply Management.

Looking ahead six months, economic optimism, captured by the business confidence index, dipped to 51.6 from April’s 55.7, but is higher than March’s 50.4.

“The last three months we asked survey participants who make purchasing decisions for their firms how the federal spending sequestration was affecting their company. Almost 80 percent indicated that the cuts had no impact on their company to date. Less than 20 percent reported only modest impacts. None of the businesses reported significant impacts,” said Goss.

Other survey findings:

• Employment indicators remain strong, despite the job index dipping to 55.7 from 56.7 in April. The May reading is above the growth neutral threshold for a seventh straight month, indicating that the job market is expanding and will continue to improve. Businesses expect wages and salaries to expand by approximately 1.5 percent over the next year, up from January when a yearly gain of 1.1 percent was projected

• Wholesale prices decreased from 63.5 in April to 62.0 in May according to the prices-paid index, which tracks the cost of raw materials and supplies. Survey participants indicated that they expect wholesale prices to grow by 4.8 percent on average in the next year. This is down significantly from January’s estimate of 7.2 percent.

• Inventories dropped for businesses this month. The index sank to 46.3 from 50.9 last month. Goss said this finding was the only negative to come from May’s report.

• Trade export indicators soared in May to 59.9 from 47 in April. At the same time, May’s import reading moved lower but remained above growth neutral at 50.8 from April’s 51.5.

• Other components of the May Business Conditions Index were new orders at 55.3, down from 58 last month; production or sales at 59.3, down from April’s 63.5; and delivery lead-time at 56.4, off slightly from 57.2 in April..

As this year’s Florida crop dwindles orange juice futures have climbed higher Last month USDA reduced the estimate of the size of the Florida orange crop- hard hit by citrus greening disease – by 3% since January  and 10% since last October. OJ futures in January stood at around $115 but have climbed to $152 this week. USDA says the disease “threatens the survival of the Florida citrus industry.” Greening is a bacterial disease spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. There is no cure and no certain way to know if a tree is infected early on. Florida produces about three-quarters of the fruit used to make OJ in the U.S.

LA Times had a story June 7 about Visalia dairyman Ron Koetsier’s new  dairy manure digester he hopes will make electricity and cut emissions from his 450 acre Tulare County farm. Article notes the long lead time to get  a digester permitted continues to be a hurdle although they hope now that the new technology works unlike Koetsier’s first try in 1985.

Central Coast farmer Deanne Coon grows an unusual crop – luffa sponges –in two climate-controlled greenhouses in Nipomo. Her  farm was featured recently on the California Farm Bureau, TV show. She harvests about 6,000 sponges a year. Her Luffa Farm is located near Nipomo. Luffa bathing sponges are farm-grown(not from the ocean) and used primarily to exfoliate skin. Visit the farm at 1457 Willow Rd Nipomo, CA.93444 – west of Hwy 101 and open Wed thru Sunday.

Unnamed buyer for Sequoia Mall has property in escrow says the broker on the deal John DuBois of Core Commercial based in Sacramento.”With a purchase agreement the buyer has 60 days of due diligence”says DuBois.”We expect the deal could close in 90 to 120 days.”
Still hope for an east side high speed rail alignment that would put a future station closer to Tulare County. Last April staff at the California High Speed Rail Authority said they favored a route that would swing west of Hanford with a potential station site near Armona. But the Authority board has twice postponed a final decision. At a meeting with Kings Co officials this week HSR board chair Dan Richard was quoted as saying “Right now, we’re not leaning toward either one,” Richard said. “I am sitting here today to say we’re back to neutral here.” Visalia leaders have been lobbying the board members to favor a station site closer to the big population centers of Tulare County – just east of Hanford.
Visalia City Council moving more quickly on the new Civic Center approving a plan this week to underground utilities in the area around Oak and Burke to the tune of $2.6 million funded through SCE and moving forward on a series  of design workshops through consultants  Darden Architects.The city increased funding for the stepped up effort at $352,450 that would look at how the new Civic Center would lay out with the planned 911 Center.
Dollar Tree To Open In Exeter:National discount retailer Dollar Tree plans to open a store in Exeter by fall in the former Nichols Payless grocery location. Owner of the property Steve Richmond confirms a lease for 18,000 sf in the building adjacent to his Rancho Pharmacy on Kaweah Ave. Dollar Tree has applied for a city building permit to do tenant improvements. Richmond estimates the work could take 4 months.Dollar Tree is one of three fast growing chains of dollar stores being opened across the nation and here in Tulare County. The retailer has 6 locations in the county including one in Farmersville and a location scheduled to open later this year in Lindsay.

News that Odwalla – owned by Coke – would move their corporate office from Half Moon Bay to Dinuba sounds good but comes with no new new staff or investment says a Coke spokesperson. Some 33 people in Half Moon Bay lost their jobs.
The cities of Tulare and Visalia would like to study the possibility of creating a shuttle between the Visalia and Tulare COS campuses.TCAG approved funding for the study this month.

Who You Gonna’ Call … about potholes? Grand Jury wants to know the phone number for the TCAG pothole department. Measure R taxes Tulare County residents 1/2 cent in sales tax for transportation projects but no agency is responsible to fill all the potholes.The Grand Jury visited remote Atwell Island solar project in west Tulare County and were nearly swallowed by foot deep gaps they say. Potholes are filled by agencies only when they get a complaint according to the Grand Jury report.

June 4, 2013 – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – California’s merchandise export trade in April dipped slightly from the level recorded in the same month last year, according to an analysis by Beacon Economics of foreign trade data released today by the U.S. Commerce Department.
The state’s merchandise export trade in April 2013 totaled $13.07 billion. While ostensibly higher than the $13.03 billion in exports posted in April 2012, inflation turned a nominal gain into a real decline of 0.9%.
On a nominal basis, exports of manufactured items slipped slightly from $8.49 billion last April to $8.48 billion this April. Exports of non-manufactured goods (chiefly agricultural produce and raw materials) declined from $1.59 billion to $1.52 billion, while re-exports rose from $2.95 billion to $3.08 billion.
Year-to-date, California’s overall export trade is down from $52.91 billion last year to $52.44 billion.
Because data on specific export commodities and their destinations can vary abruptly from month to month for a variety of factors, Beacon Economics compares the latest three months with the corresponding period in the previous year.
That analysis reveals that the chief culprit continues to be an ongoing decline in shipments of components used in the manufacture of personal computers. In the most recent three-month period (February-April 2013), exports of these items were down 23.4% from the same period last year.
“The surging popularity of smartphones and tablets has been dramatically reshaping global supply chains in the electronics components sector,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economcs’ international trade adviser. “This is a trend we have been observing since late last summer, and it has yet to run its course” he added.
Mexico remains California’s top export market, even though shipments to our southern neighbor declined by 18.5% in the last three months. Shipments to Canada, still the second largest destination for California products, rose by 1.8%. Meanwhile, exports to China, the state’s third biggest overseas customer, jumped by 6.4%.
Beacon Economcs’ analysis yielded one finding that might surprise many.
Although Europe’s well-publicized economic and financial travails would suggest otherwise, California’s exports to the Eurozone were up a robust 9.8% in the last three months, while shipments to the overall European Union increased by 8.4%.
By contrast, the state’s exports to the Pacific Rim declined by 0.9%, despite a healthy 6.4% rise in the value of California goods shipped to China.
Beacon Economics’ current outlook for the state’s exporters is not especially encouraging. Both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have dialed back their expectations of economic growth in most major markets, and there is no compelling reason to question their assessments.

V’room Go The Cars
US cars and light truck sales in May were up 8.2% says Autodata. Truck sales were the stronger of the two – up 10.9%. The Big Three had the following sales: GM up 3.1%,Ford up 14.1% and Chrysler up 11%. Nissan led Japanese makes with a 24.7% improvement.

Visalia  New Homes Up
Visalia new home building permits for May were higher than the year before with permits issued for 18  new sf homes compared to  13 in May 2012, So far this year the city has issued home  permits totaling 127 compared to 70 this time last year – an 81% jump.

Fewer Distressed Homes
Distressed home sales continued to decline in April, as previously underwater homes rose in value, and the share of REO sales registered in the single-digits for the first time in more than five years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported .
The combined share of all distressed property sales registered its lowest level since February 2008, dropping to 24.4 percent in April, down from 27.9 percent in March and down from 45.8 percent in April 2012. The share of all distressed sales in most counties also declined significantly from the previous year, with Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, and Santa Clara registering in the single- or low double-digits in April.
The share of equity sales – or non-distressed property sales – now make up more than three-fourths of total sales, the highest share since February 2008. The share of equity sales in April increased to 75.6 percent, up from 72.1 percent in March. Equity sales made up more than half (54.2 percent) of all sales in April 2012.

In Central California Tulare County distressed sales dropped from  60% of the market a year ago to 34%. In Fresno County it dropped to 38% from 62% a year earlier . In SLO County the figures dropped from  44% to 17%.

More Crude Oil Moves By Train. `What pipeline? I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pipeline!
WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 30, 2013 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today that U.S. Class I railroads originated a record 97,135 carloads of crude oil in the first quarter, up 20 percent from the 81,122 carloads in fourth quarter of 2012 and 166 percent higher than the 36,544 carloads originated in the first quarter of 2012.