United Parcel Service is nearing completion of its 58 acre, 425,000sf package sorting hub in Visalia this Thanksgiving. Construction is far enough along that they are preparing install interior improvements at the big tilt-up building including a $11.3 million conveyor system according to a recent City of Visalia permit.But they are clearly not finished with their overall plans for their Visalia Industrial Park regional hub.
On Friday November 15 the city received a request to add some 30 acres to the UPS-58 acre block they acquired in August 2017, with a request for a lot line adjustment with the next door property owner CapRock Partners.
It was this same property owner that originally sold the 58 acres to UPS.
Once the city acts on this administerial procedure, the lot line adjustment merging various parcels would be recorded and UPS’s land holdings would stretch further south to Riggin including down to the corner of Riggin and Plaza Dr. Altogether their total land ownership would add up to 88 acres – better than a 50% increase in their holdings.
UPS is developing more so called super-hubs across the US handling more shipments using highly automated technology.The trend is continuing as demand for same-day service accelerates fueled by more internet shopping and door-to-door delivery. Visalia is not yet as large of some of these super hubs, but it is getting there.To date UPS has spent an estimated $44 million to construct facilities on the 58 acres by our count.
UPS has begun delivering to homes by drone from pharmacies for example, more speedy delivery.Meanwhile they are working on more secure delivery using lockchain technology, live updates, registering details throughout a packages’s journey. They are doing all this with a cleaner fleet of vehicles looking to reduce their carbon footprint.
Meanwhile CapRock continues to work on a what would be Visalia’s largest building, a 1.1 million square foot behemoth that would be located just to the east of the UPS hub with Kelsey street alignment being the dividing line. Each of their holdings extend north to Modoc Ditch.The CapRock’s Visalia Logistics plan has reached the construction drawing stage with the proposed project being built ‘on spec’ – before a tenant has committed to it.
For now there are no further building plans by UPS announced.
But Visalia Vice Mayor Steve Nelsen says that the Visalia hub is UPS’s ”future growth center” regionally and that will mean more jobs and economic growth for Visalia. Several other spec buildings are on the drawing board nearby, being permitted now by the city.These are likely to be filled by companies who want to be close the UPS shipping hub.
Nelsen said he had not been informed until now about this latest UPS plan.But last year UPS told Visalia officials they had plans to employ about 600 in Visalia,300 more than their old facility. The existing expansion is expected to open this coming Spring.
Teamsters local 948 Secretary Adam Ochoa says he believes the extra land may be needed to accommodate the huge volume of truck trailers that will be going in and out of the property every day but expects the facility may add more jobs than earlier projected. ”I heard 600 additional jobs, not 300” he says.
The Visalia UPS super hub’s location is considered critical because only the Visalia/Fresno area can reach 99% of California with overnight shipments even as UPS’s Fresno facility is landlocked for growth and the current Visalia UPS terminal is small.