Note: this story was written a week before the hyperloop project was announced.
Mothballed since 2008 an ambitious project to build a 7500 acre new town in southwest Kings County is making a comeback this month.
Proponent Quay Hays of Grow Holdings says the “timing is right” to try again to launch the community of 75,000 in the Central Valley with the recession in the rear view mirror.
This month Hays filed a revised application for Quay Valley with Kings County to be located along I-5 south of Kettleman City. The land is mostly all open space, cattle grazing land. The new plan is somewhat smaller than the original when it covered 12,000 acres.
The application will be processed by Kings County and likely will be the subject of public review meetings within 6 months expects Hays.
“Once we get approval we see the first thing to happen is to bring in jobs – a variety of them – along with housing to accommodate people.”
When we last heard, Quay Valley property owners had won a lawsuit against McCarthy Family Farms for breach of contract involving the sale of the water rights and against developer John Vidovich and Sandridge Partners for intentional interference of two contracts involving water for the Quay Valley Ranch project. That was about one year ago when a Kings County jury had unanimously awarded a $128.6 million verdict in favor of GROW and Kings County Ventures.
Hays says since then there has been an appeal to be heard in Fresno County toward the end of next year.
Meanwhile Grow Holdings had filed a preliminary application to build a solar farm on the property in 2011, a plan that has not moved forward.
“We still see solar as a big component of the project” says Hays both utility scale and rooftop noting plans to recycle water and other green measures.
Hays says the team that has been put together to push the project forward has “great experience” in building other new towns in California.
While they call it a new town the community vision sounds more traditional.Here is the first line from their plan.
“Imagine beautiful homes near water, open space, and organic agriculture, with front porches on well-ordered, tree-lined lanes with walkways and bike paths, and an expansive village green with
benches and flower beds.”
Whether the plan moves forward or not will be up tot he Kings County Board of Supervisors.
The California High Speed Rail Authority’s March 1 report to the legislature offers an update on progress along the segment from Fresno to Bakersfield. In December 2014, the Authority announced that Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick, a Joint Venture, presented the apparent best value for the CP 2-3 design build contract with a bid price of $1.2 billion – well below engineers estimates of $1.5 to 2 billion.
Here are brief bullet points on new items discussed in the report as it relates to the 65 mile South Valley leg called CP 2-3.
– Says the Authority finalized an agreement with Union Pacific that will allow both parties to work together to do both design and construction of the segment from Fresno to Bakersfield.
– The Authority anticipates contract execution and work to be underway in spring 2015. Upon contract execution, Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick will join ARCADIS, the Project and Construction Manager (PCM) for CP 2-3, to deliver this construction package.
– As this process moves forward, the Authority continues certain pre-construction activities in the CP 2-3 project section, while concurrently advancing the acquisition of right-of-way.To date, the Authority has identified 545 parcels as necessary to deliver CP 2-3, of which, 490 of these parcels have now been appraised.
– While the Authority continues to work with its stakeholders and partners through the remaining CEQA lawsuits, the Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the project section’s environmental document in July 2014 allows the Authority to move forward with construction-related activities within the project section up to 7th Standard Road in Kern County.
– The design contractor – Dragados – and the construction management team will be opening offices in the Central Valley, bringing new economic activity to the region.The report doe not say this but Dragados is expected to open offices in Hanford.
– The Authority released an RFP for Habitat Mitigation Services in January 2015. The habitat mitigation services will satisfy environmental approvals and federal and State permit requirements related to habitat for federally and State-listed endangered or threatened wildlife and wetlands and waters of the United States. A pre-bid conference was held in February 2015 and was attended by industry leadersi n the field of habitat restoration and preservation and by many small businesses ready to take advantage of the teaming opportunities. With the habitat mitigation services contract in place, anticipated in spring 2015, the federal and state regulatory agencies will have the mitigation assurances needed to issue permits for CP 2-3 and CP 4.
The contractor will be doing design work with major overpasses and underpasses being built first before track is laid.
The California High Speed Rail project got some good news this week on a growing source for future funding even as they began construction work around Fresno.
The state Legislative Analyst Office(LAO) estimates that Cap-and-Trade Revenue would likely be much higher than Governor’s budget assumes in a report released this week. Under legislation signed by the Governor last year the statewide high speed rail project is getting 25 percent of incoming cap and trade monies coming into the state to reduce fossil fuel emissions.
The LAO report says “Beginning January 1, 2015, transportation fuel suppliers are required to obtain allowances for the GHG emissions associated with the combustion of the fuels they provide. In connection with this change, the number of state-auctioned allowances will increase significantly and, as a result, future auctions are expected to raise greater amounts of state revenue than in the past.”
Cap & Trade is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
The LAO low estimate expects $3.3 billion vs the Governors budget of $1.7 billion for a two year period ending in June 2016. The moderate scenario expects $3.7 billion over these first two years of the program with a high estimate of $7.7 billion ( see chart).
The most likely is the moderate scenario says LAO or $3.7 billion.Supporters say California High Speed Rail could plan on over $500 million a year to perhaps $1 billion annually in revenues to spend on the train over the next five years, money to supplant federal and Prop 1A funding.
This revenue prediction for CHSR is more than double and up to 4X earlier estimates.
Start of First Major Utility Relocation in Downtown Fresno
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) design-build contractor Tutor-Perini Zachry/Parson (TPZP), in coordination with the City of Fresno, will commence with stormwater utility relocation work on Tuesday, March 3 in downtown Fresno as part of Construction Package 1 (CP 1). Approximately 450 linear feet of reinforced concrete storm drain pipe is being relocated within the footprint of the high-speed rail project in compliance with the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District (FMFCD). A storm drain collects rain water and redirects it to FMFCD facilities, primarily to avoid flooding.
Construction Next Year Will Be In Proposed New Town In Kings County
On the heels of announcing a public offering and Elon Musk’s offer to build an open source test track in Texas, JumpStartFund’s Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has announced a formal agreement with the developers of Quay Valley, California in Kings County to develop an installation of the Hyperloop along a five-mile stretch of a proposed new town running alongside the Interstate 5 freeway. With construction beginning in 2016, this will be the first working passenger-ready Hyperloop in an urban area.
Only this week we reported that the proposed new town had resurfaced from 2008 when the project was mothballed with an application for a general plan amendment and zone change on 7500 acres of open ground south of Kettleman City on I-5. The application will be heard by the Kings County Board of Supervisors.
Launching the future in Kings County
“With Quay Valley, we’re creating a community built on economical, environmental and social sustainability, and part of this is seeking to reduce car dependency,” said Quay Hays, CEO of GROW Holdings, Inc., the master developer of Quay Valley. “For these reasons, the Hyperloop is the ideal clean community transit system for Quay Valley.”
The idea apparently is that you will be able to ride the tube to work from a residence on one end the town to work or shopping located 5 miles down I-5.
But the ride may attract curious tourists ready to pay like at a theme park as well.
Demonstrating The Technology
“Our agreement with Quay Valley is a major milestone in the advancement of the Hyperloop project,” said Hyperloop Transportation Technologies CEO Dirk Ahlborn. “This installation will allow us to demonstrate all systems on a full scale and immediately begin generating revenues for our shareholders through actual operations.”
The Quay Valley Hyperloop track will be built using HTT’s tube, capsule, and station models. It will be instrumental in optimizing passenger system needs–such as loading, departure and safety considerations–to ensure Hyperloop is ready for larger-scale operation. Running speed will be reduced on the shortened track from Hyperloop’s full potential.
Sources say the tube will run 200mph rather than the 760mph as foreseen by Musk. Still, a lot faster than Mr Toads Wild Ride.
The Hyperloop, also called the 5th mode of transportation, allows a capsule with 28 people to travel through a tube with a low pressure environment of 100pa at 760mph. Similar to an airplane in very high altitudes but on the ground.
The Hyperloop is the idea of Tesla Motors founder Musk, who has promoted a vision for transporting people at high speeds in a capsules that will be pushed through a series of tubes laid over thousands of miles – theoretically connecting LA to SF. Now a El Segundo start-up group wants to move forward on the concept in California. They picked the Central Valley in the middle of the state to do it ,not unlike high speed rail who has faced criticism that theirs is a “train to nowhere.”
In this case this stretch of I-5 is literally in the middle of nowhere. But founder Quay Hays dreams big with the wide open spaces allowing him him to plan a new town from scratch.
IPO Planned
In the past two years, JumpStartFund assembled a team of nearly 200 core team professionals who have worked to bring the Hyperloop to reality by completing extensive technological and financial feasibility studies. On February 13, 2015 Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced the company was moving towards a public offering near the end of 2015. The offering is planned to be an auction with the goal of raising $100 million.
About Quay Valley
Quay Valley is located on 7,500 acres directly between Los Angeles and San Francisco along California’s Interstate 5 Freeway. What they call a sustainable model town for the 21st century, Quay Valley will be built to the highest levels of green design standards and resource conservation. “Quay Valley will be a 100 percent solar-powered, self-sustaining residential community of 25,000 homes that incorporates cutting-edge technology into a retail, education, entertainment and hospitality infrastructure, generates thousands of jobs, and strengthens the Central Valley’s economy –all while protecting the natural resources and beauty of the land. “
Hays has predicted public hearings on the new town in as soon as six months. He says his vision is to launch the project with an influx of new jobs. Certainly now – he has got the publicity.
About Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc.
Founded by JumpStarter Inc. utilizing JumpStarter’s crowdfunding and crowd collaboration platform JumpStartFund, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) is poised and ready to begin construction on one of the largest transportation endeavors in history.
Hyperloop first gained public interest when entrepreneur Elon Musk published a detailed white paper describing a futuristic mode of transport that would transport folks from LA to San Francisco in about thirty minutes. Mr. Musk handed the concept to the public asking for
entrepreneurs to take over its development while he focused on his existing projects. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies say they rose to the challenge.
HTT is headed by CEO, Dirk Ahlborn and is comprised of a unique and collaborative core team of over 170 experts and engineers who are working around the clock to ensure the safety, feasibility and reliability of Hyperloop as a viable means of transport in the 21st century.
National Weather Service Hanford suggests Valley people not give on winter just yet after this past few days of surprisingly strong storms dropped almost 2 inches of moisture in the Central Sierra. They predicted another cold storm coming into the state and dropping into the Central Valley this weekend. China Peak got some snow and says they may reopen soon.
Both Sequoia and Kings Canyon are celebrating their founding 125 years ago this year.
Both Sequoia and Kings canyon saw a major uptick in visitation in January 2015 according to NPS figures.
Total recreation visits to Sequoia National park were up 36% in January 2015 compared to January 2014 from 26,055 visitors to 35,569.
Also up significantly were overnight visits to the park mostly at Wuksachi Lodge totaling 3718 stays compared 2848 a year earlier,more than a 30 percent jump.
RV visits were up 60% as well.
Likewise in Kings Canyon where recreational visits were up a whooping 80% from 12,362 to 22,212. Overnight stays more than double to 1500 from 725 a year earlier.
One major factor was clearly that there was little snow in the parks to impede visitation compared to typical January weather.
For the year the NPS says Sequoia NP visitation in 2014 totaled 1,039,137 compared to 909,274 while Kings Canyon visits fell slightly to 502,000 from 567,544.
One factor in Kings Canyon is that this park has a new concessionaire, Delaware North, same as Sequoia, who may be doing more marketing.
The good news for”Gateway Towns” in Tulare County is that additional visitors are helping the local economy as more gas, motel rooms and restaurant food is sold.
Visalia hotel owner Anil Chagan confirms the good news bolstered by European travelers. Chagan says he “ hopes that in 2015 the economy in Europe” allows this keg segment in the local tourist market to continue to grow.
Both Sequoia and Kings Canyon are celebrating their founding 125 years ago this year.
aerial view of the convention center shows approx area where a new hotel might go
This week the Visalia City Council has scheduled a closed door negotiation with an LA hotel developer to build a new hotel near the Visalia Convention Center.
On the agenda is hotel developer Remo Pizzichemi – the Vice President of Operations for The Welcome Group, based in Encino California, who own and operate a handful of hotels around the country including two in Sacramento. Their hotel brands vary from Hilton and Holiday Inn to Hampton Inn and others.
Mr Pizzichemi was not available for comment at press time.
Downtown Visalia already has two major hotel properties near the convention center including the 195 room Marriott and the 72 room Comforts Suite
Long discussed is the possibility of adding more overnight rooms near the convention center that could help the city accommodate larger conventions.
Asked if he could comment Mayor Steve Nelsen said he could not except to confirm “there is a hotel interested in coming Downtown.”
Indeed, Nelsen says there has been a recent uptick in interest by hotel developers in Visalia. Plans have been filed for new hotels on Plaza Dr and another on Cypress off Akers. But Nelsen would like to see more.
“I have always wanted to see a hotel out by the sports complex on Highway 63 and we have always talked about bringing in another hotel around the Convention Center in Downtown.”
In addition he says the city owns other properties near Downtown that would work.Some of these properties are also on the closed door agenda this week without saying who they are negotiating with.
“There are lots of moving parts right now and I think something is going to happen.”
Details are not set but one concept is in order to make room for a new hotel the city might relocate the planning department to clear a site on the east end of the convention center and make it available for a ground lease. In addition the lease might include the parking lot on the east end.
Back To The Future?
The idea may have both support and opposition.
“ I do think we need more hotel rooms near the convention center” says hotelier Anil Chagan who owns several properties in town.
“The problem is we can’t accommodate some of the larger conventions because we don’t have enough rooms within walking distance of the convention center.”
But Chagan adds “I don’t like the idea of the city being involved because that competes with private enterprise. I don’t think we want to go back to the days when the city brought in the Radisson” – now Marriott hotel.
With the Marriott and Chagan’s Comfort Suites there are two large hotels Downtown already.
The city might play a roll clearing the land and leasing it to a developer. While the practice may have been controversial 25 year ago – today it is common – even typical around convention centers in cities from Dallas to Casper from Newport Beach to Grover Beach. Still,back in 1991 the Visalia City Manager lost his job due to the controversy.
Even with the Comfort Suites situation the city plays part by offering a city owned parking garage without which the hotel would not be possible.
There are some 5600 rooms in the greater Visalia/Tulare/Porterville metro area. Bed tax monies in Visalia total about $2.2 million a year and growing. In the past year Smith Travel says this metro area’s “rooms sold” are up 6.1% and RevPAR (revenue) is up 10%.
On Plaza Drive developers have filed plan for new Residence Inn and earlier – a plan for a Holiday Inn Express near Adventure Park was told.
Chagan says the “investment atmosphere in Visalia is good right now “ and he would not be surprised if a number of deals were done.”
Sequoia Park visitation is helping to drive the increase and Chagan “ hopes that in 2015 the economy in Europe” allows this keg segment in the Visalia tourist market to continue to grow.
In a related matter the city plans to spend about $4 million this year to upgrade the convention center.
As for the hotel marketplace a boom in new hotel development is worldwide. Recently,Marriott International, Inc. said that it expects its portfolio of hotels either open or under development to surpass 1 million rooms by the end of 2015. When open, the hotels under development will have generated more than $50 billion in real estate investment globally by Marriott’s owner partners and created over 150,000 anticipated new hotel jobs.
City Hall & KDDH Plan Moves
One item up for discussion at the latest city council retreat – what about moving city hall to east Visalia? Council member Warren Gubler appears to speak for the majority when he says he does not favor relocating the police and fire department from their current location on Johnson any time soon. “It’s a matter of priorities. I think our next move should be to plan on building a new Civic Center in east Visalia’” noting that “that we will get private development to follow.” Still, that is some years off. In a closer time frame the relocation of the Visalia Chamber from Santa Fe Ave will allow the move of city administration to the municipal-owned building from the upper floor of the Transit building later this year.
If the city is planning to retain their current Acequia property west of the hospital – Kaweah Delta appears to be planning to continue to move their way. This week the hospital held a closed door meeting that included the possible purchase of the Dr Tom Mitts property on Acequia. The half-block includes Mitts medical building and two others including the old pharmacy. Kaweah Delta already owns the parking lot next to the buildings.
Dr Mitts said when asked” we told them we would be open to selling. We think a lot of the hospital.” Mitts has been scaling back his practice and says he now works about half time.
The hospital is in the early stages of planning for a second tower now that the state will not allow the old Mineral King wing to used for acute care after 2030.
Furniture Store Opening
Mor Furniture For Less will be holding their ribbon cutting ceremony on Mooney next Tuesday.
Cold Storage Expansion
Sundale Vineyards on Lovers Lane has broken ground on two cold storage projects including a new 51,220 sf, $4.6 million facility as well as a 21,115 sf expansion of an existing cold storage valued at $825,000.
New Exec At BIA
Mike Lane has been named executive director of the Building Industry Association of Tulare and Kings counties. He replaces Bob Keenan, who has retired after 25 years leading the organization. Mr. Lane was past president and CEO of Lane Engineers Inc.
Local Home Builders Busy
Two local home builders have recently broke ground on large new projects.
San Joaquin Valley Homes has started construction on a 26-acre single-family residential project called San Marino that will offer 95 detached homes in northwest Visalia. A grand opening is tentatively scheduled for April 2015.
“We’re anticipating a very high demand due to a lack of inventory of larger new homes with high-end amenities,” said Lissa Walker, director of marketing for San Joaquin Valley Homes, which is based in Visalia. San Marino, located on a vacant piece of land at Riggin Avenue and South Shirk Road, will offer four floor plans and three elevations with three to six bedrooms. The homes will have tile roofs, courtyards, granite countertops and tile flooring.
Standing In line: Meanwhile one the busiest home tracts in the county is in Goshen where Smee Builders has broken ground on Cottontail Hollow – a 110 lot subdivision near Ave 308. Builder Gary Smee says when all phases are add in – there will be over 300 homes. Prices go from $150,000 to $180,000.”We got them standing in line to buy the product” says Smee, in part due to attractive USDA financing offered low income buyers.
McFarland, USA is an upcoming sports drama film based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a predominantly Latino high school, McFarland High School, in McFarland, California.
The last time the Hwy 99 town of McFarland,nicknamed “heartbeat of agriculture” made the news was when there were fears it was a site for a cancer cluster. The community of 12,000 is more than 90 percent Hispanic.
Now a film offers a more upbeat message with Kevin Costner as Jim White, the school’s coach who leads the team through several local social issues to win a championship.
Directed by Niki Caro and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film is scheduled to be released on February 20, 2015.
Inspired by the 1987 true story, McFarland, USA follows coach Jim White whose job-hopping leads him to a predominantly Latino high school where he struggles to find common ground until he notices his students’ exceptional running ability and forms a fledgling team of unlikely runners who bond to build a championship cross-country team and an enduring legacy.
The winning bidder on the Kings County segment of the high speed rail will open an office and construction yard in Hanford as it gears up on the $1.2 billion project. So says city manager Darrel Pyle after visiting with representatives of the firms.
The contractors – Dragados USA, Inc., Flatiron West, Inc., and Shimmick Construction Company, Inc., collectively known as DFS was low bidder on the Construction Package 2-3 Project with a bid of $1.2 billion for this stretch of the rail segment.
Their bid was $500 million less than the next lowest bidder. State engineers has estimated the cost for the new track at $1.5 to 2 billion.
Construction Package 2-3 is a 60-mile route located within the counties of Fresno, Tulare, and Kings and the cities of Hanford, Corcoran and Allensworth. The Project calls for construction of at-grade, aerial, and possible below grade sections of high speed train, relocation of existing BNSF tracks for approximately 5.5 miles, possible crossing of existing BNSF railroad tracks, construction of waterway and wildlife crossings, and roadway reconstructions, relocations, and closures.
Expected to result in thousands of jobs, DFS’s King County plan include construction of the new rail station east of Hanford where Pyle says ”construction will be accelerated because of lower costs and savings.”
“Now they have decided to build the rail station at-grade instead of 50 feet high with 5 rail lines being elevated when they come through.” Instead the rail lines will be at ground level going over the San Joaquin Valley Rail line as well as Hwy 198 – each which will be depressed.
In addition Pyle expects infrastructure costs being sought by the city to connect the HS station to city roads,water and sewer will be accommodated as a change order on the construction project.
CHSRA has identified a 25 acre ag parcel owned by Hanford’s Ernie Costmagna to build the new station likely to be purchased through eminent domaine in coming months.
In a related matter the Kings County Board of Supervisors is considering a plan that would designate the Kings EDC to coordinate the current purchase of right of way by CHSRA through Kings County for business relocation assistance of those affected. A similar arrangement is already in place in Fresno County.
The application will be processed by Kings County and likely will be the subject of public review meetings within 6 months expects Hays.
