Category: Central Valley

-October 20,2022-

Amazon is changing their story about the new 1.1 million square foot Visalia warehouse – called HLA6 – opening up this month. Spokesperson Natalie Banke says the huge new facility will be a distribution facility and not a same-day service service – clarifying earlier statements to the media.

“Unfortunately customers in Visalia will not have the same-day service in their region (at least for now), as this is a distribution center, not a fulfillment center.”

Instead, the center will send products to same-day service centers elsewhere. The new Visalia building and its workforce “will first support same-day fulfillment centers in Nevada, with plans to expand support across the same-day network as it continues to ramp up.”

The building, with construction recently completed, is on Kibler (Aver 320) and Kelsey – north of the original Amazon building.

Banke offered this explanation:

“I was unfortunately given misinformation on the new HLA6 site in Visalia and have some corrected updates to share with you. Here is the correct information.

• Building Name: HLA6
• Building type: Same Day Distribution Center, supporting Same-Day facilities in the area up to 500 miles.
• Launch timing: Will launch sometime this month, but won’t be fully ramped up for another 6 months
• Jobs: We’re hiring for hundreds of full time and part time jobs at this site, with starting pay $15.50 an hour. Hiring will take place in phases (weekly) as shift schedules are released.
• This same day distribution center is just over 1 million square feet and both stores and distributes inventory to nearby same day fulfillment centers, up to a 500 mile radius.
• At first, HLA6 will first support same day fulfillment centers in Nevada, with plans to expand support across the same day network as it continues to ramp up.
• HLA6 is one of Amazon’s newer buildings, and this will be the third one in the entire country to launch. The other two are located in Atlanta and Pennsylvania.”

Banke’s original statement that this would be a same-day service center did not jibe with Amazon footprints of other same-day service centers that are much smaller typically.

The City says they still expect employment at Amazon’s second warehouse in Visalia to be around 500 and could grow as this regional distribution facility supplies more geographic areas.

Promising news

Visalia Economic Development Manager Devon Jones says “It is promising to learn that the new Amazon facility is 1 of only 3 such newer facilities in the entire country. I think that clearly demonstrates the unique and strategic characteristics of our location for such companies. So, it’s promising not only for the 500 new jobs expected from this center, but also because of the hundreds, and eventually thousands, of additional jobs that the other developments expected in the Visalia Industrial Park will bring as new tenants learn about Visalia. We’re very fortunate to have many active speculative industrial developers in Visalia such as CapRock, Diversified Development Group, YS Industries, Seefried, G4 and many others.”

By contrast to this distribution center, the existing 1.2 million sf Amazon, in service for more than a year, is a fulfillment center, meaning it ships products to end- use customers like you and me.

In the past few days Amazon announced that it is hiring 150,000 employees throughout the U.S. in full-time, seasonal, and part-time roles across its operations network for the holidays. A diverse range of roles—from packing and picking to sorting and shipping—are available to applicants from all backgrounds and experience levels.
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Facing a dry future,Westlands and westside towns like Avenal need each other

-October 20,2022-

Small western Fresno and Kings County towns like Coalinga, Huron and Avenal are in the same boat as Westlands Water District. They have no potable local water supply but depend on imports from Northern California. All are short on supplies this drought year and likely in the future but have a joint strategy that may yet come to the rescue. It is a strategy that this year – the state appears ready to help make happen.

While the region does not have a good water supply, it does have plenty of brackish salt-laden groundwater that with desalination technology can become usable water. To paint a picture – the farm giant and its neighboring farmworker communities plan to turn a lemon into thirst-quenching lemonade.

Here’s what is happening.

This month the City of Avenal agreed to send a letter of support to a planned westside desalination project proposed by Westlands Water District.The big water district may be viewed by regulators in a better light if it helps neighboring disadvantaged communities – towns where its employees live.Those same towns also depend on farming too.

Avenal is in a pickle right now and needs an additional source of water to sustain itself. The city manager says they may not make it through this calendar year.

Should state prison get its own water?

The community of Avenal is home to Avenal State Prison and its 5000 inmates. The prison uses up to half the city water supply, says City Manager Antony Lopez. The town’s supply comes from the Central Valley Project run by the US Bureau of Reclamation

According to a city staff report, this year USBR has conditionally allocated 2,000 acre feet of water to the City of Avenal as a Public Health & Safety use. On average in the last few years, the city has utilized roughly 2,300 acre feet of water under Tier III drought emergency conditions.

The town needs new housing, commercial and industrial growth to accommodate its 13,000 people, mostly low income. But with the state prison using up to half the water supply – Avenal can’t grow.

A staff memo says, “over the past few months, staff has networked with regional partners on the issue of water scarcity in the Central Valley. Knowing the allocation issues the city faces, and pursuing different avenues to secure either another source of water, or having Avenal State Prison secure its own allocation.”

Most recently Avenal city staff has been meeting with representatives of Westlands Water District that could help extend water availability to the community.

Westside desal project: We hope to have this up and running by next year, which would be beneficial because we are expecting another poor water supply from the CVP

One such project Westlands is working on is a reservoir to store water in wet years, and release it during dry years that could benefit CVP customers in the Central Valley like Coalinga, Huron, and Avenal.

In fact this week the Feds announced a grant of $25 million to the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Authority to pursue the San Luis Reservoir expansion that will add 130,000 acre-feet of additional storage.

Most recently, Westlands is requesting the city to write a letter of support for a desalination program grant to treat groundwater that would be delivered back to the canal and could be used by Central Valley Project (CVP) customers like Avenal.

“Our concept is to treat the upper aquifer brackish groundwater and deliver this treated groundwater to the San Luis Canal, which could then be conveyed to the City of Avenal. We hope to have this up and running by next year, which would be beneficial because we are expecting another poor water supply from the CVP” says City Manager Lopez.

“This letter is being provided in support of Westlands Water District’s application for the California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Water Desalination Grant Program Round 4 providing funding to local agencies for the planning, design, and construction of projects to desalinate naturally occurring brackish water for potable water supply.”The Desalination and On-Farm Recycling Project being proposed by Westlands has the potential to provide price stability and a more reliable water supply for Disadvantaged Communities, especially during times of drought.”

This is happening just as the state has suddenly recognized the need for desal projects not just along the ocean but inland.

This summer Governor Newsom weighed-in backing more desal projects in the state. After rejecting a desal project along the south Coast earlier this year the state Coastal Commission this month approved a project for the first time.

Newsom this summer declared that “California should invest tens of billions of dollars in water recycling, storage and desalination over the next two decades to shore up its supply as the state gets drier and hotter.”

It comes as drought continues to grip the U.S. West and the state prepares to lose 10% of its water supply by 2040, according to projections by the Department of Water Resources.

His proposed water recycling targets, which would make treated waste water safe for drinking, would cost $27 billion by 2040, the proposal said. That was the biggest price tag associated with the plan, which also relies on billions in money already approved in past state budgets. The plan envisions that money coming from both state and federal sources.

Desalination is the process by which the dissolved mineral salts in water are removed. Currently, this process, applied to seawater, is one of the most used to obtain fresh water for human consumption or agricultural purposes.Now it will be used to treat brackish water in the Valley.

DWR support

In September the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced it is offering $6 million in financial assistance to support desalination projects that will help develop new sources of local water supplies in California.

Funded by Proposition 1, the Water Desalination Grant Program is offering $6 million to support construction and design pilot projects that desalinate naturally occurring brackish and ocean water for potable water supply. DWR expects to announce the final awards in February 2023.
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-October 13,2022-

The Water Education Foundation is mourning the loss of its Board President Mike Chrisman, the former California Natural Resources Secretary whose family ties to the Foundation go back to its founding in 1977.

Mr. Chrisman, of Visalia, died from complications of cancer Tuesday, Oct. 11. He was 78.

Mr. Chrisman, owner/partner of Chrisman Ranches, a family ranching and farming business in Tulare County, joined the Foundation’s board in 2017 and became its president in 2020.

“We are devastated to learn about Mike’s passing,” said Jenn Bowles, the Foundation’s executive director. “He was a wonderfully supportive board president who cared deeply about our mission and was constantly offering to help. Among other things, he served as a mentor to up-and-coming professionals in our Water Leaders program.”

She added: “Mike leaves behind a deep legacy of natural resource leadership in California, and that legacy will live on in the work we do at the Water Education Foundation.”

Donations to the Foundation, a nonprofit, can be made in Mr. Chrisman’s name here to honor the Water Leaders program or offer general support.

In rising to board president, Mike Chrisman became the second generation of Chrismans to lead the Foundation’s board. Mike Chrisman’s father, Jack Chrisman, a rancher who was the longtime chair of the California Water Commission in the 1960s, was president of the Water Education Foundation upon its founding in 1977. Mike Chrisman once said the Foundation was “a labor of love” for his father and another early Foundation leader, Bill Gianelli, former director of the California Department of Water Resources. The two men hired Rita Schmidt Sudman, who served as the organization’s longtime executive director until early 2014.

Well known in Tulare County as an avid conservationist, Chrisman just this year, had been elected President of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust.

Mike Chrisman had a long record of public service, serving as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Secretary of Natural Resources from 2003 until 2010. As a member of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s cabinet, Mr. Chrisman served as the governor’s chief adviser on issues related to the state’s natural, historic and cultural resources. Mr. Chrisman also chaired the California Ocean Protection Council and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.

In 2010, he became the Director of the Southwestern Partnership Office for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. There, he oversaw the foundation’s fish, wildlife and habitat programs in the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona until 2013.

Prior to becoming natural resources secretary, Chrisman served as region manager for Southern California Edison Company, where he managed all phases of company and customer business, and the political and civic activities in Edison’s San Joaquin Valley service area.

In earlier years, he served on the California Fish and Game Commission from 1997 to 2003, and also was Chair of the Wildlife Conservation Board. From 1994 to 1996, he served as Undersecretary for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
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New 1.1 mil sf warehouse opens in October 

Like the previous time, the big internet logistics company never 

The County says rezoning this farmland to industrial will result in less water demand than currently, an argument to be made in favor of designating more land west of 99 for warehouses if this project takes off.

-September 8,2022-

Downtown Visalia will get two new tenants

Downtown Visalia will get two new tenants along Locust Street just off Main. At 114 S Locust a new entry Wine Buff will open. Nearby at 116 S Locust Que Concha will open an eatery. The company has had a food truck in the area. Leases were completed by Patrick Montreal of Mark Saito Company.

Green Power Motors reports loss

Greenpower Motor Company Inc.- a Canadian electric bus manufacturer. with a manufacturing plant in Porterville fabricates multiple models of high-floor and low-floor vehicles, including transit buses, school buses, shuttles, and a double deckers.The company just reported their first quarter financials with a loss-worse than estimated.The Q1 loss was $4.35 million.The company reported higher revenue than a year ago but net income was down 92%.NASDAQ reports their 52 week stock price is down 72%.The company now has manufacturing plant in West Virginia where they have proposed to add 900 jobs at the South Charleston WV facility.That would be a huge jumps from company reports they have 62 employees in all locations.
GreenPower had promised to build a full blown factory in Porterville in 2015 but has yet to pull the trigger. They lease two production facilities in town and have bought a 9-acre parcel ready for a factory. They do assemble electric vans in Porterville. But now it appears their emphasis on manufacturing has led elsewhere.

Tractor Supply applies for permit for new Visalia store

Hardware retailer Tractor Supply is preparing to build its first Visalia store to be located at Sedona and Dinuba Highway in north Visalia. The company has now filed for their building permit from the City of Visalia to construct a 21,645 sf store with a greenhouse attached in the Donahue Schreiber owned commercial center currently anchored by In-N-Out.

Regal Cinema  declares bankruptcy

from CNN

The owner of Regal Cinemas is having a tough time — they  filed for bankruptcy this week

The company operates all the movie theaters in Visalia and four in Fresno.In Visalia the chain had been planning a new theatre at the Sequoia Mall that may now be in jeopardy.Sequoia Mall developer Dave Paynter had been planning a new shopping center development the figured there would be  a new multiplex as part of it.

British company Cineworld Group is the parent company.

Earlier this week, Cineworld said in a press release that, despite a “gradual recovery of demand” since last spring, admissions were below expectations.

The company blamed a limited roster of films for the lack of moviegoers, a situation it expects to continue until the end of November.

The chain, which owns more than 500 movie theaters across the US, is exploring how to reduce its debt obligations, which it warned would “likely result in very significant dilution of existing equity interests” for shareholders.

Cineworld has struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic, when it was forced to close its movie theaters worldwide. It suffered a $2.7 billion loss in 2020, and $566 million loss in 2021.

It is a similar story for other movie theaters. So far this year, revenues at the US box office are nearly 30% lower than before the pandemic, according to Comscore despite a big rebound, a media data company.

PG&E to replace overhead lines at Tulare Co demonstration forest to cut wildfire risk

PG&E plans to install a new remote solar micro-grid at the Whitaker’s Forest Research Station within Whitaker’s Forest. Whitaker’s Forest is an approximately 350-acre forest plot owned and managed by the University in Tulare County.
Once installed, the Project would provide existing residential structures on-site with a consistent and reliable source of electricity that would replace the need for the existing overhead electric distribution lines. PG&E will be responsible for installation, and for operation and maintenance, of the facility. The Project consists of a 12-panel solar array mounted on the roof of a new shipping container. Supporting infrastructure includes battery storage, a new driveway, and a new underground conduit between the solar array and the residential structures. The Project is part of PG&E’s Remote Grids Pilot Program, a program within PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program.

Rally’s to join North Dinuba Blvd menu

Developers Mike Hamzy and Javier Gomez plan to construct a 1,088 square foot Rally’s fast food restaurant building with a double drive-thru lane in the Riverbend Village Shopping Center. The project site is zoned C-MU (Commercial Mixed Use). The site is at North Dinuba Boulevard and West Riggin Avenue. Rally’s joins a growing list of national fast food chains coming to the northern part of the city. Actually this Rally’s is the first in Visalia.

VF Corp will erect 3000 solar panels

VF Corp,an international clothing company, has a permit to erect 3160 solar panels at its big Visalia Industrial Park distribution facility.

Fresno businessman wants to put large used-car dealership in Visalia

Fresno automotive dealer Scott Fahrney has submitted preliminary plans to build a large 5.5 acre used-car dealership next to the proposed Carmax lot near Plaza Drive. Fahrney has a similar dealership in Fresno. Called mycarpark.com,the dealership will have parking spaces to sell 350 vehicles and a 20,000sf showroom.The property is at Neeley and Hillsdale near other new car lots in west Visalia. Fahrney has both new and used cars dealerships in Selma and Fresno.

Planet Fitness wants new N Visalia gym

With 23000 locations chain wide, Planet Fitness is looking to open a second gym in Visalia choosing a north Visalia spot in the new Donahue Schreiber shopping center at Riggin and Sedona according to preliminary plans filed with the City of Visalia.The company has a gym on Walnut in Visalia, a spot in Hanford and 5 locations in the Fresno metro area.

Planet Fitness would build a new 16,514 sf gym across Dinuba Highway from Target. The new center is starting to fill up with recent plans submitted by retailer Tractor Supply, Panera Bread and now Planet Fitness in a center that will also have a car wash and several fast food names including In-N Out and Pollo Loco.

Veterans Affairs eyes clinic in Visalia

The current Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Tulare would relocate and expand service in Visalia according to a preliminary plan filed with the City of Visalia this week. Developer Josh Hausman of CBOC Visalia LLC has identified the location as the two-story office building at 500 N Santa Fe, the former Buckman Mitchell headquarters, now staffed by Chicago-based Gallagher Insurance.

An operational statement submitted by the developer says the 32,000sf VA clinic could see up to 95 patients a day.

The current VA clinic on Cherry St in Tulare is much smaller at a few thousand square feet.

The information filed through the city Site Plan Review process says the clinic would expand services to include mental health, optometry, podiatry,audiology, physical therapy, infusion, tele-health and others. The facility is expected to employ 45 to 53 workers.

The larger clinic would offer series to Veterans in Tulare and Kings Counties with support from the VA facilities in Fresno California Veterans Affairs estimates there are nearly 30,000 Vets in Tulare and Kings Counties as of 2022.

The VA has been looking for a spot for an expanded clinic for several years. Tulare officials have been vocal about their hope to keep the clinic in Tulare but now, if this bid succeeds, it appears Visalia will get an influx of new medical patients in the greater Downtown area where Kaweah Health and Family Healthcare Network each have a big presence.

To prepare the insurance office building to be converted to a medical clinic the LLC overseeing the project plans to spend $2 million, says the statement.

Still, building a clinic for the VA is a competitive process and there may be other developers in the running proposing another location.None has been made public but a Tulare developer has been talking about a location for a new VA building near the outlet mall.

According to the Visalia application Visalia Land & Investment Co LLC owns the insurance building.Public documents list Stan Simpson as the principal. Gallagher bought Simpson’s Buckman Mitchell business in 2000 when the insurance giant also purchased 15 other small brokerages around the country.In Visalia they also bought out the Lewis & Associates insurance business.

According to an article in the Foothill Sun Gazette back then, Gallagher had 71 employees after the purchase from locally-based Buckman Mitchell. But with the pandemic hitting at the time many workers began to work from home – a scenario that has continued. That, in turn, has impacted many large office building owners finding they have surplus space.

But a recent WSJ article made the point that the surplus started years ago with the change in tax law incentives allowing property to be written off more quickly.

Office vacancy rates in large cities around the US have been some of the hardest hit recently including Chicago where Gallagher is headquartered. The worst four office markets in terms of availability rates are Chicago Suburban (31.7%), Houston (30.5%), Dallas-Fort Worth (30.9%), and San Francisco (26.8%), according to data from Savills.

Gallagher, one the largest insurance brokers in the world, is traded on the NYSE reporting in the latest quarter that net income was up nearly 50%.Its stock is near a 52 week high.

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-September 8,2022-

Faraday Future raises funds but stock drops

Faraday Future, with a car manufacturing plant in Hanford, has had a tough go of it with its stock falling to under $1, an all time low this week.It was over $11 in late September of last year. Also in the past few days the LA-based EV start-up warned production of their electric car might be delayed to the fourth quarter explaining “Certain equipment needed to fully ramp production is currently scheduled to arrive later this year, as anticipated,” adding that it is “not expected to materially affect the timing or rate of the production ramp up” said a August 29 news release.

With the equipment on site, Faraday Future says it” has made substantial progress” with equipment installation in vehicle manufacturing areas of the factory.

“We noted earlier some challenges with supply chain issues which affected our FF 91 timeline. We have announced the successful raising of $52 million in convertible note commitments and continue financing discussions with multiple parties, but our anticipated timing to close these potential transactions have also impacted our launch timing,” says CEO Dr. Carsten Breitfeld.

The company says it has taken actions to preserve its cash position, including reducing spending, extending payment cycles, and implementing other similar measures. As of August 26, 2022, the Company’s U.S. cash balance was $47.2 million and restricted cash was $1.5 million. “The timing and amount of additional funding raised could impact the timing and rate of our production ramp, which could substantially impact expected production volumes.

Grow Agave on California’s Westside?

Agriculture in California faces an uncertain future as drought, wildfires and other climate extremes become more commonplace in the West. But a fledgling industry focused on growing and distilling agave plants, which are used to produce tequila and mezcal in Mexico, could be California’s answer to fallowed fields and a lack of water.

Earlier this year a group of growers, distillers and retailers formed the California Agave Council to foster collaboration and offer a chance to share knowledge among members who previously had no formal network.
Now, the University of California, Davis, has established the Stuart & Lisa Woolf Fund for Agave Research to focus on outreach and research into the plants and their viability as a low-water crop in the state.

“The rainfall patterns and growing conditions in California are different from those where tequila is made,” said Ron Runnebaum, an assistant professor of viticulture and enology. “It is exciting to begin to harness the capabilities at UC Davis to determine which agave varieties can be grown commercially in California and what flavors can be captured by distillation to make unique California agave spirits.”

The fund was created with a $100,000 seed gift from Stuart and Lisa Woolf, who are Central Valley farmers and have a test plot of about 900 agave plants on 1.5 acres. They hope this gift will encourage others to also contribute.

The gift is focused primarily on optimizing production in California relative to Mexico, where labor costs are lower, and the farmers rely on rain rather than irrigation for water. Stuart Woolf believes California producers could grow larger plants with higher sugar content.

“I really believe we could be very competitive with Mexico,” he said.

The research also offers a chance to better understand the impact of location on the growth of the plant, which can be a source of fiber and alternative sweetener as well as the distilled spirits it can produce. “As a drought-tolerant plant, agave holds great potential in water-stressed California,” Woolf said. “It’s a crop that could get by with little to no water during periods of extreme drought.

Record butter prices

Kings County dairymen should not complain about high grocery prices considering the hefty price they are getting for a key commodity in preparing meals every day – butter. With the fall baking season coming up, the wholesale price for butter on the commodity market now stands at $3.12 per pound.That is at or above an all time high and almost double what butter costs a year ago.( $1.78) Blame low supply in storage and reduced supply in the hot summer months. Processors have been turning more milk into cheese, say sources. Dairy operators defend themselves facing sky high production costs from feed to labor and fuel.They say processors are pocketing the extra receipts.
Prices for retail butter have outpaced most other goods — up 13% this year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some have said with consumers already facing sticker shock in the grocery store, heightened butter prices may cause consumers to back away from the dairy aisle.

Veterans Affairs eyes clinic in Visalia

The current Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Tulare would relocate and expand service in Visalia according to a preliminary plan filed with the City of Visalia this week.The clinic serves Vets in both Kings and Tulare counties.

Developer Josh Hausman of CBOC Visalia LLC has identified the location as the two-story office building at 500 N Santa Fe, the former Buckman Mitchell headquarters, now staffed by Chicago-based Gallagher Insurance.

An operational statement submitted by the developer says the 32,000sf VA clinic could see up to 95 patients a day.
The current VA clinic on Cherry St in Tulare is much smaller at a few thousand square feet.

The information filed through the city Site Plan Review process says the clinic would expand services to include mental health, optometry, podiatry, audiology, physical therapy, infusion, tele-health and others. The facility is expected to employ 45 to 53 workers.

The larger clinic would offer series to Veterans in Tulare and Kings Counties with support from the VA facilities in Fresno. California Veterans Affairs estimates there are nearly 30,000 Veterans in Tulare and Kings Counties as of 2022.

Oil price keeps dropping

The price of oil continues to drop this week to around $82 barrel for October at deadline Wednesday. That is down in three months from over $121 a barrel with motorists finally getting some relief at the pump. Gas in Hanford this week is down to $4.36 a gallon at Valero.