July 6,2016
Lemoore Could Open Escrow On 80 Acres To Shopping Center Developer
The Lemoore City Council deferred a vote, scheduled this week, to open an escrow on an 80 acre parcel owned by the city in the Lemoore Industrial Park with a Poway-based shopping center developer. The site is the northeast corner of Highway 41 and Idaho Ave. Led by William Stone representing S Squared Development LLC, the agreement calls for the developer to construct a roundabout at State Route 41 and Idaho Avenue.A staff report says ”The City agrees to reimburse the Developer the cost of the roundabout, including improvements and rights-of-way associated with the construction of the roundabout. Said reimbursement agreement to be negotiated at a later date.” The development would include a retail shopping center, which may include hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and the like says the staff report. The developer is expected to submit preliminary design plans to the city within thirty days after escrow is opened. S Squared has built a number of shopping centers in the West including in Temecula, Anaheim, Bend Oregon and St George Utah. `
City Manager Andrea Welsh says the council will take up the approval of the sale next month.
Grocer Lemoore Foods Will Open In Former Fresh & Easy Location
The Fresh & Easy store that closed earlier this year has a new owner – Lemoore Foods Inc, a chain of small grocery stores. The company’s corporate secretary Mohamed Hussain says his firm opened a number of grocery stores in California in the past few years with SBA loans.That includes 12 in the Valley in smaller towns like Huron and Mendota. Hussain says they have now closed escrow on the Lemoore property and expect to open a grocery store here around August 20.The store will to employ between 10 and 15. The building is located on Cinnamon Drive, south of Lemoore Avenue. The principals of the company are featured in a SBA video touting the benefits of SBA loans low interest rates and mentioning in the film they would soon open a location in Lemoore.
Kings Farmers Planting More Processing Tomatoes – See Record Yield
Kings County farmers are planting 6 percent more processing tomatoes this year than last, one of the few counties where growers expect to increase the size of their plantings. Kings County is expected to grow 28,100 acres,up from 26,500 last year. The crop was valued at $131 million in 2015 – the fifth most valued crop here. By contrast Fresno County will plant 10 percent less this year says a CDFA survey. Statewide the tomato crop could be down 12.4 percent, dropping from 299,00 acres to 262,000. The lower acreage is likely due to the drought although the total volume still adds up to 13 million tons, only slightly less than last year. Farmers continue to get more out of every acre with a record yield of 49.62 per acre.
November Ballot Measure Could Threaten HS Rail,TwinTunnels
The “No Blank Checks Initiative” pushed by a wealthy Stockton farmer, Dean Cortopassi, that has made it to this November’s ballot would require the state’s voters to have a say on any project that involves $2 billion or more in state revenue bonds. That might impact plans to sell revenue bonds to fund the bullet train that would be paid back by future ridership. It would not impact the current Prop 1A general obligation bond that a Kings County group is targeting.Also potentially impacted is Gov Brown’s twin-tunnel plan to move water south without disrupting the delta – a project that unlike high speed rail, may have farmers support here in Kings County.
Higher Wages Here
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says Kings County workers are taking home more pay in recent years. Average weekly earnings have risen to $836 in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to $611 in the same period in 2005, $755 in the same period in 2010 and $746 in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Milk/Feed Costs Heading In Right Direction
Kings County’s number one industry got some good news in recent weeks as dairy farmers are breathing a little easier. Milk prices are finally heading higher and feed costs going forward are falling fast. World milk futures prices are $1.5 to $2 higher and domestic sales of processed cheese for the food service industry are said to be reaching an all time high. Some say you can thank the popularity of Egg McMuffins. On the feed front – September corn futures prices have tumbled from $4.40 a bushel to $3.30 in the past few weeks apparently based on forecasts for good rainfall in the corn belt.USDA says corn acreage is up 7 percent when compared to last year to 94.1 million acres.