-January 15,2022-
First approved by Tulare County in 2018 the Sequoia Gateway Business Park project has yet to build any of its proposed developments.But that has not kept them from proposing an even larger project being heard by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors February 1.The approval requires an addition to the project’s EIR.
The applicant now wants to build 1.5 million square feet of mixed commercial uses that would include a 7-story “destination hotel” with up to 700 rooms.The hotel would eclipse any hotel in town with square footage of near 800,000sf on 36 acres counting an attached indoor water park.The business park also includes two other 50,000sf hotels as well. Altogether, the planned business park would require nearly 4,000 parking places.
Great Wolf Resorts would operate the hotel/waterslide -similar to its new Manteca operation that includes a waterpark,restaurant,arcades,spas and children activities. The Chicago-based Great Wolf Resorts operates 19 such resorts around the country with the Manteca operation only opening last summer. Like many projects, the Manteca resort suffered Covid-related delays.The developer was going to build in Gilroy but faced fierce opposition from nearby residents, who reportedly packed Gilroy City Council meetings to voice their opposition. Instead they picked Manteca.
The company has been valued at $2.9 billion, operated as a private joint venture that includes the Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners.
Tulare County Economic Development manager Mike Washam says the hotel operator has been looking for a site in the South Valley and has now focused on this Vlsialia site instead of near Bakersfield.
Washam says the company executives plan to fly out from Chicago to attend the October 1 public hearing. He adds the hotel,once it obtains all entitlements, could require three years before it opens perhaps in 2025.
Already the County Planning Commission approved the entire project this past week with no opposition although there was little public notice.
Besides the resort, Sequoia Gateway wants to permit some 375,000sf of regional retail uses and 150,000sf of medical office – 4 gas stations,several sit down restaurants and fast food – all on 127 acres of current ag land.The project is just south the Visalia Airport runway, off Caldwell and east of 99. New environmental filings are needed to be approved for the expanded project.
To date no commercial projects we are aware of, has completed purchase of their lots with both Valley Children’s and Kaweah Health projects still in escrow.A visit to the site finds only a monument sign.
Plans for fast food and gas stations have yet to rise out of the ground although the streets are put in.But Washam says by this spring construction of several of the Phase One tenants will be seen.The larger scale of the project may fuel worries in Visalia that this commercial development outside the city boundary may take away business from Mooney Blvd/Plaza and Downtown.
The staff report on the project dismisses danger from having a larger project and 100ft hotel next to the airport flight path even though a plane accident killing 4 just a few months ago crashed just across the freeway.But letter from a FAA representative says they would not oppose the project as long as the building height does not exceed 100ft.
To accommodate the large project, the 99/Caldwell Interchange, currently programmed for completion in 2024,will be needed to handle the traffic. Other Great Wolf Resorts attract a half million visitors a year and offer 600 to 800 jobs.The hotel advertises itself as a family getaway.
One tenant may get some positive buzz if it moves forward – Dutch Bros Coffee wants a site here according to Washam, saying they have already applied for a permit.
The Airport Land Use Commission reviewed the project’s new height allowance for consistency with their 2018 finding of Tulare County Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan (CALUP) consistency.
If built as advertised, the county could see annual tax revenue of $9 million a year.
When the Sequoia Gateway project was approved back in 2018 it was opposed by Sierra Club and Visalia Council member Greg Collins. The applicants said at that time they would look to attract a major highway commercial user to the large open space site along Highway 99. Critics pointed to its location near the airport and worried it could pose a danger if crowds visited the site.