By Jennifer Uncategorized 0 Comments

CalCom and SunLink Partner to Bring Solar to Farms in California’s Central Valley

Central California

February 15, 2017
Business Wire

With shared expertise in designing, permitting, building and optimizing solar energy systems for agricultural operations, SunLink Corporation and CalCom Solar have successfully completed three solar projects in Shafter and Wasco, Calif. – the first in a larger Central Valley portfolio of installations.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170215005355/en/

To streamline all project construction, SunLink standardized its mounting solution design and permit set to align with CalCom’s installation preferences. SunLink PowerCare geotechnical testing was also performed on sites in Madera and Tipton, Calif., to optimize designs and inform the installation teams in order to further accelerate these projects’ timelines. CalCom was then able to customize and complete the installation per that customer’s needs, such as uneven terrain and boundary constraints.

“When it comes to the geotechnical, engineering and installation expertise essential for agricultural solar projects, our suite of products+services+software solutions answers the needs of farmers and growers for lower project costs, reduced risk and easy long-term operation. We understand the project priorities and drivers of this market,” said SunLink CEO Michael Maulick. “Working closely with the other agricultural experts at CalCom, we are able to streamline the entire project lifecycle and deliver more successful energy assets.”

“CalCom Solar has the technology and knowledge that can help make solar work for many farmers both financially and operationally. By going solar, farming operations can significantly lower operational costs, saving them more money annually on utility bills. The system will also help hedge against raising utility rates, delivering significate utility savings over the next 25 years,” stated Dylan Dupre, CEO of CalCom Solar. “CalCom has made a name for itself as a leader in Central Valley agricultural solar with more than 100 MW deployed at some of the largest agricultural sites in the region. We seek out partners who also pride themselves with capabilities in this area, and SunLink’s demonstrated success from engineering to mounting solutions has proven a valuable asset.”

About SunLink

SunLink Corporation brings powerful solar energy solutions to market through innovative, highly engineered products, in-demand customer services and best-of-breed software that make solar PV electricity easier, safer, more reliable and less expensive to install. In addition to bringing to market well-designed products that are agile in their implementation, the company leverages unparalleled R&D, a legacy of more than a GW of successful projects, state-of-the-art engineering and creative problem solving to develop optimized, full-scope product+service+software solutions for roof and ground-mount solar projects of every size and complexity. It is this unique combination of trusted insights, products, services and EnTech convergence that helps solar developers and installers overcome obstacles and furthers the industry’s shared mission of advancing universal solar power adoption. For more information, visit www.sunlink.com or follow twitter.com/sunlink.

About CalCom Solar

Founded in California’s Central Valley, CalCom Solar provides energy solutions for commercial agricultural operations and water management organizations. Today CalCom Solar employs 58 people full-time, and hires as many as 70 temporary employees from the local community. The success of the company reflects CalCom Solar’s sustainability ethic and strong conviction that a company can provide customers with reliable energy solutions, maintain profitability, and have a positive impact on the community and the environment. For more information, please visit www.calcomsolar.co

By Jennifer Manufacturing • New Developments 0 Comments

Wonderful Real Estate Signs 10 Year Lease for 400,000 SF BTS Facility at Wonderful Industrial Park

Central California

Published on Jason Gremillion
Wonderful Real Estate

We are excited to announce our newest success at Wonderful Industrial Park. WRE has signed a 10 year lease for a new 405ksf BTS facility. WRE worked closely with the tenant over the past two months utilizing WRE’s ProCore software to create a seamless and expedited design process. The result will allow WRE to commence construction by mid-June 2017 and deliver the completed facility by February 2018!

By Jennifer New Developments 0 Comments

$1 Billion Neighborhood

Central California

March 31, 2017
Manteca Bulletin
Dennis Wyatt

The 209’s most unique — and what could become the most prestigious — residential address will become available this spring.

River Islands at Lathrop plans to sell the first of 990 lots set aside for custom executive-style homes overlooking the San Joaquin River, Paradise Cut, and the Old River that will also back up to an 18-mile greenbelt park along the water’s edge encircling the 11,000-home planned community.

Lots will range in size from 8,000 to 20,000 square feet and will start at $200,000. To put that in perspective if all of the lots were to sell for $200,000 regardless of size or factoring in inflation over the years it takes for all to be sold, it represents $198 million in land sales alone.

And given the expectations the homes will all exceed $1 million, River Islands will one day be ringed by $1 billion worth of homes.

River Islands Project Manager Susan Dell’Osso indicated initial plans will be to develop 65 lots with no more than 10 lots ever being offered at one time. River Islands is likely to roll out the lots in conjunction with various phases over the community’s projected 20-year buildout.

Dell’Osso said the lots will be offered for a period of a month or so to the 250 people that are on an interest list before they are made available to the general buying public.

When completed it will be the largest concentration of executive-style homes in the Great Central Valley if not Northern California outside of well-to-do enclaves such as Atherton when it is based on housing style and not simply price. There are $1 million homes in San Jose, as an example, that are previously owned KB tract homes that have been closing escrow as well as 60-year-old flattops with less than 1,800 square feet in Marin County.

The homes on the River Islands custom lots will be at least three times the median home value in Lathrop ($357,000) and Manteca ($345,000). To get a financially comparable property in the Bay Area it would have to sell for more than $3 million.

There is nowhere in the Central Valley where you can buy a home site next to a river that overlooks it. That’s because other locations where homes are sold next to the river have their view blocked by towering levees. The custom home sites at River Islands are on top of 300-foot wide super levees — at least six times wider than a typical levee. They have been certified to withstand the maximum flood that the Army Corps of Engineers rate levees for which is a 200-year flood or an event that has a 1 in 200 chance of happening in any given year.

Dell’Osso said the state is in the final stages of reviewing plans for the greenbelt looping River Islands. Besides a path suitable for bicycling, walking, and jogging plans call for exercise par courses throughout as well as planting native shrubs and vegetation.

It will also be universally accessible meaning anyone including non-River Islands residents can use the greenbelt. It also could end up with one — or no — interruptions. Last year River Islands modified the original design for the main entrance via the new bridge across the San Joaquin River so that the greenbelt trail would be connected by a bridge that is now in place across the four-lane road.

The current access road from Manthey Road will eventually be closed eliminating that disruption in the loop trail. The future western access to River Islands may also have a bridge across it to allow the entire trail not to have to cross a road.

That is something that the valley’s existing premier urban riverside trail — the American River Parkway in Sacramento — can’t claim.

To get an idea how far the 18 mile River Island loop trail would be, it is 18.5 miles from downtown Manteca to downtown Modesto.

While the exact name of the trail hasn’t been selected, Dell’Osso said it will be named after Lathrop’s quintessential couple — Bennie and Joyce Gatto.

By Jennifer Food Processing • New Location 0 Comments

Bronco Wine expansion, with 30 new jobs, wins support

Central California

 May 5, 2017
Modesto Bee
By John Holland

Bronco Wine Co. got support Thursday night for a major expansion at its headquarters south of Ceres — and praise for a notable product.

The Stanislaus County Planning Commission voted 7-0 for a rezoning that will ease the way for new warehouse and office space. The Board of Supervisors will make the final decision on the plan, expected to create about 30 jobs at the Keyes Road site.

Bronco markets its wines under dozens of labels and also sells bulk wine to other producers. It is best known for Charles Shaw, which first sold for $1.99 at Trader Joe’s stores and came to be known as Two Buck Chuck. It’s now up to $2.99.

Commissioner Katherine Borges recalled that a 2005 version was named best chardonnay at the California State Fair. It competed against about 350 higher-priced bottles.

Borges suggested that Bronco add a tasting room, but company representative Dan Leonard said that is not in the plan.

“It’s a production facility supporting ag, supporting grapes,” said Leonard, a vice president and treasurer.

Bronco, founded in 1974, is one of the nation’s largest wine producers. The Keyes Road site does crushing, fermenting, aging and bottling of a large part of its volume. About 325 people work there year-round, and seasonal employees can bring the total to 550.

Leonard declined to say how much the expansion will cost. The first phase, taking up to five years, includes a 120,000-square-foot warehouse that is part of an eventual 613,000 square feet of new storage. This phase also involves two spurs from the Union Pacific Railroad line next to the site, which Leonard said would cut down on truck traffic.

Bronco plans to move into the later phases as wine sales grow. They include 81,000 square feet for offices and other space for training and other needs.

By Jennifer Food Processing • New Location 0 Comments

Dust Bowl Brewing Company Extends Distribution in California

Central California

Published  February 13, 2017

Dust Bowl Brewing Company recently signed with Premium Beverage Company, expanding the growing brewery’s distribution into California’s Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties.

Founded in 2005, Premium Beverage is based in Salinas, California and distributes domestic, craft and imported beers along with ciders and an extensive portfolio of non-alcoholic products. Premium Beverage services all major chains, independent grocers, restaurants, liquor stores and convenience stores. Dust Bowl Brewing Co. joins other leading craft brands including Rogue, Shiner and Trumer to name a few.

“Now that we are fully operational in our new brewery, we are poised to grow our distribution. Our ability to brew significantly more beer allows us to aggressively pursue new territories as we navigate the competitive craft beer industry,” shares founder, Brett Tate. “Premium Beverage Company shares our same commitment to superior customer service and is aligned with our growth strategy. The timing is ideal.”

“We’re excited to add Dust Bowl Brewing Company to our portfolio,” adds John Holt, President, Premium Beverage Co. “The Central Valley brewery has experienced impressive sales growth since its inception in 2009 and is committed to expanding their product offering even more in 2017. Their brand recognition is on the rise, they produce quality beer and they’re clearly invested in the future. Dust Bowl is an excellent fit with our craft beer model.”

Dust Bowl Brewing Co. produces a wide range of draft beer along with a portfolio of year-around and limited-release bottled products. The company opened its new brewery, located in Turlock, California, in June 2016 and plans to produce 15,000-20,000 barrels in the first year, compared to 5,000 barrels in 2015.

In addition to Premium Beverage Company, Dust Bowl Brewing Co. currently has six other distributors: Delta Sierra Beverage covers the California Central Valley, Mussetter Distributing handles the Sacramento region, Delta Pacific covers the Fresno region, Morris Distributing handles San Francisco and the North Bay, Bay Area Distributing services Contra Costa and Alameda counties and Barone Distribution covers the state of Nevada.

Current expansion plans include further south down the Central Coast, Southern California and into the Pacific Northwest.

Dust Bowl Brewing Company produced its first beer in May 2009. The Company forecasts 15,000-20,000 barrels annual production. Dust Bowl Brewing Company beers are available in 5 and 15.5 gallon kegs along with selected styles in 22oz. and 12oz. bottles. Distribution includes Central and Northern California, Nevada and Vermont. The craft brewery showcases a wide variety of its beers at its two Turlock, Calif. taproom locations, Brewery Taproom and Downtown Taproom. More information may be found at www.dustbowlbrewing.com.

By Jennifer Food Processing • New Location 0 Comments

Which comes first, the chicken, the egg or the egg-production facility?

Central California
It will be the largest egg-production facility Kern County has ever seen, housing more than 3 million chickens and at its peak, producing more than 36 million eggs per month. And all done 100 percent cage-free. Already under construction on Gun Club Road, northwest of Wasco, the facility developed by Central Valley Eggs LLC will be massive, totaling more than 700,000 square feet.
By Jennifer E-Commerce • Logistics • New Location 0 Comments

Ulta bringing part of its billion-dollar business to Fresno

Central California

The Fresno Bee
BY TIM SHEEHAN
PUBLISHED MARCH 10, 2017

Ulta Beauty and the city of Fresno officially announced Friday that the cosmetics company has chosen Fresno as the site of a large distribution center that will initially employ more than 500 workers and could swell to more than 1,000 employees with seasonal hires during busy periods.

The joint statement issued by the company and the city confirmed what The Bee reported Tuesday about Ulta’s selection of Fresno for a 670,500-square-foot warehouse to be built in south Fresno. Carolyn Sutphen, a spokeswoman for Ulta, said the distribution center is expected to hire an initial workforce of 542 when it opens in the summer of 2018. It will be built at the northwest corner of East and Central avenues.

Ulta is a growing business that last year reported net sales of $4.8 billion.

The company had identified Fresno last fall as its preferred site, but Ulta representatives told the state in November that the firm was also considering sites in Visalia, Bakersfield, Nevada and Utah. The $110 million distribution center will serve 400 stores and handle fulfillment of online orders from throughout the western United States. Ulta has five other distribution centers in Illinois, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Texas. The Fresno center will be Ulta’s first and only one in California.

“This is exactly the shot in the arm that Fresno needs to energize our economy and keep our momentum headed in a positive direction,” Fresno Mayor Lee Brand said in the joint statement. “We’re pleased that Ulta Beauty recognizes the value of our location. …”

As a city councilman last year, Brand was the author of the city’s Economic Expansion Act, which provides for rebates of sales and property taxes, along with other incentives, for companies that relocate to or expand in the city to create new jobs for local residents. In November, working under Brand’s act, the Fresno City Council approved a 30-year package of incentives – chiefly a partial rebate of sales taxes – worth up to $18 million to attract Ulta. To qualify for the city’s incentives, Ulta must create the equivalent of at least 500 full-time jobs at the Fresno center within five years. If the company fails to achieve that by the end of 2022, it would have to repay whatever rebates it had received to that point.

Also in November, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development agreed to provide $8 million in California Competes tax credits to Ulta if it chose a site in California, conditioned on the net creation of 542 full-time jobs in the state.

An economic analysis of the Ulta project that was commissioned by the city last year estimated that Fresno stands to realize about $42 million in additional sales and property tax revenue, even after the incentives.

Ulta, based in Illinois, has almost 980 stores in 48 states; in the Valley, the company has two stores in Fresno and one each in Clovis, Visalia, Hanford and Porterville.

“We are pleased to be expanding in Fresno with a new distribution center that supports our company’s growth strategy and brings additional jobs to the community,” Ulta CEO Mary Dillon said in the joint statement. “This will allow us to continue to grow our stores and e-commerce business. …”

Sutphen, the Ulta spokeswoman, said the company will begin posting job openings on its website closer to the completion and opening date.

Company growing

In its financial results released Thursday for the fourth quarter of 2016, Ulta announced that its sales – both in-store and online – have been growing at a significant clip. The company reported more than $1.58 billion in net sales during the quarter, up almost 25 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. Its e-commerce sales grew even faster, up more than 63 percent compared with a year earlier and amounting to $154.9 million for the quarter. For the entire year, online orders represented $345.3 million in sales for Ulta.

While the city and Ulta waited until Friday to make the formal announcement, the company’s choice wasn’t exactly top secret. Clayco, the Chicago-based contractor that will build the distribution center, already has a construction office on the site, and renderings on the company’s website identified Ulta as the tenant for the building. Clayco’s website indicates that construction is expected to be done by the end of 2017.

Additionally, the careers page of Ulta’s website included a job opening for a human resources director for the Fresno distribution center.

Ulta isn’t the only potential big fish for which the city has baited its economic hook. In December, a month after approving the enticements for Ulta, the Fresno City Council approved a similar Economic Expansion Act package of incentives for Golden State FC LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of online retail giant Amazon.com. That package of incentives, including rebates of sales and property taxes, has a cap of $30 million over 30 years.

Larry Westerlund, the city’s economic development director, said Amazon deemed Fresno its preferred site for a $200 million, 855,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment center that would employ at least 750 workers and potentially hire up to 1,750 employees. There is, however, no word on when Amazon may make a decision on the location.

Brand traveled to Seattle late last week to meet with Amazon officials to pitch the Fresno site. The would-be location for that facility is less than a half mile from the Ulta site, in the North Pointe Business Park near Central and Orange avenues, and was formerly under consideration last year by clothing retailer Nordstrom for a distribution center. Nordstrom has put on hold any decision on a center in the Valley.

By Jennifer Food Processing • Logistics • New Location 0 Comments

Organic meal kit service eyes Fresno for distribution center, 356 jobs

Central California

Published on 06/09/2017
Written by Gabriel Dillard and John Lindt 

Green Chef, an organic meal kit service, is eyeing Fresno for a distribution center that could hire up to 356 people. Image via Green ChefA Colorado-based organic food delivery service has its sights set on Fresno for a distribution center that could eventually employ 356 people with an average full-time salary of $30,000.

Green Chef Corp., a subscription meal kit service founded in 2014 that specializes in organically-sourced food, is up for a $2.5 million California Competes tax credit with plans to invest $17.2 million in a Fresno delivery hub, according to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz).

By Jennifer E-Commerce • Logistics • Manufacturing • New Developments 0 Comments

CT Realty Acquires 345-Acre Industrial Parcel in Stockton, Plans $135MM Build Out

Central California

The Registry
Posted on

CT Realty (CT) has acquired 345 acres of industrial land within the master-planned NorCal Logistics Center in Stockton, Calif., with plans to develop 4.4 million square feet of high-clearance distribution, e-commerce/logistics and advanced manufacturing buildings. The project, which breaks ground this month, includes an unprecedented amount of speculative construction for Northern California.

Valued at $135 million, the first phase of development includes approximately 1.7 million square feet in three buildings, including a 1,122,341-square-foot building that will be the single largest spec building developed in Northern California. Two additional buildings of 388,183 square feet and 186,944 square feet will complete Phase 1. Beyond the planned development, NorCal Logistics Center has sites available for build-to-suit developments ranging in size from 100,000 square feet to more than 1.9 million square feet.

“We view this as a long-term development opportunity to assemble a world-class logistics campus in one of the strongest markets in America,” said Carter Ewing, managing partner of CT Realty. “The dynamics of California’s Central Valley region, with an industrial base of more than 185 million square feet, mirror the favorable activity we have encountered over the last three years in Southern California and other major distribution markets in Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago.”

NorCal Logistics Center, which is already home to General Mills, Fresh & Easy and Fox Head, is located in the heart of California’s Central Valley industrial market and serves an extension of the global logistics supply chain infrastructure directly linked to West Coast ports in Oakland/Stockton, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Portland, Ore., and Seattle/Tacoma, Wash. The project is proximate to key intermodal facilities operated by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads, and is accessible to SR-99, I-5, I-205 and I-580, linking to all major Northern California markets and strategic Western U.S. destinations.

“The evolution of modern logistics infrastructure, including inland ports, sea ports and commercial rail systems, has changed the dynamics of how containerized cargo is distributed nationwide and throughout the world,” added Ewing. “Investing in buildings that are strategically located near this infrastructure is integral to meeting the demands of today’s most progressive logistics users, and this is at the heart of our national strategy. The locational attributes of NorCal Logistics Center give us confidence that this will become one of the premier master planned logistics parks in the entire Northern California market,” added Ewing.

CT and related development partnerships are developing speculative and build-to-suit Class A logistics buildings for some of the largest industrial users in America. The company has acquired or developed 7 million square feet of industrial buildings in the U.S. over the last 36 months, experiencing strong leasing activity from projects that have been well received in their respective markets.

“NorCal Logistics Center represents the calculated expansion of an industrial logistics strategy we began implementing aggressively across the country five years ago,” said J.C. “Watty” Watson, managing partner of CT.

CT has capitalized much of its acquisition and development activity with Diamond Realty Investments (DRI) the U.S. real estate investment arm of Japan-based Mitsubishi Corporation. Both DRI and CT have 25-year histories in development and investment.

“We are delighted to again combine forces with DRI in this exciting new venture,” added Watson. “Together, we have almost 4 million square feet under construction and another 10 million square feet in our development pipeline on land that we own across America.”

The project is designed by Ware Malcomb, a premier architectural design firm with global experience in logistics and distribution facilities. Construction financing is provided by Cal Bank & Trust and Fifth Third Bank.

CT acquired the NorCal Logistics Center parcel from Arch Road, L.P., a partnership controlled by Minnesota-based Founders Properties and represented in the transaction by Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons Perrier, Rebecca Perlmutter, and Michael Kendall of CBRE National Partners. CT was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Kevin Dal Porto, Blake Rasmussen, John McManus and Tyler Vallenari, who will provide ongoing leasing, sales and market support services.

By Jennifer Logistics • New Location 0 Comments

Amazon breaks ground on Fresno fulfillment center

Central California

Published On June 19, 2017 
The Business Journal
Written By David Castellon

 

In case it wasn’t obvious to the dozens of city, county, state and Fresno-area business leaders gathered late this morning on the edge of a dirt field along Fresno’s southern tip, Kelvin Downes told them why they were there.

“Well, it’s official. Amazon’s coming to Fresno,” Downes, head of West Coast operations for Amazon’s fulfillment centers, told the crowd, repeating the announcement the online sales giant announced at the start of the month.

As for the crowd, it was gathered for the groundbreaking of the planned 855,000-square foot building that will house Amazon’s tenth California fulfillment center, where items purchased on Amazon.com are shipped out to customers.

Fresno was selected, in part, because of its location between Southern California and the Bay Area, as well as its proximity to major freeways to Northern California, Oregon and Washington, as well as parts of Nevada.

Because of the company’s focus on two-day shipping under its Amazon Prime program, Downes said most of the goods shipped from the Fresno Fulfillment Center will go to locales on West Coast, but it also will ship goods across the country.

“The support we’ve received from the city, the county and the state on this project has been phenomenal,” said Downes, who specifically thanked, among others, current Mayor Lee Brand — a city councilman for Fresno when the project first was proposed — and former mayor Ashley Swearengin, who was in the audience for the groundbreaking.

“Look around you. This is the future of Fresno, and it all begins with Amazon,” Brand told the crowd gathered under a tent and handed bottles of cold water, providing some relief from the day’s heat as it approached the triple digits.

“This is the game changer,” he said of Amazon locating a fulfillment center here, adding that “It changes the narrative for Fresno.”

The fulfillment center will be built in the 3500 block of Orange Avenue, on the edge an industrial park that includes the new 670,500-square-foot distribution center for Ulta Beauty, which is under construction next door to the planned Amazon site.

Ulta is expected to employ more than 500 people initially and possibly grow that number to about 1,000, while Downes said Amazon expects to employ more than 1,500 people here from the start.

He said that besides offering competitive pay, the employees’ compensation package will include stock options and a program that could pay up to 95 percent of their college tuitions.

Downes noted that the $150 million facility will be among Amazon’s largest fulfillment centers, and it will include a large contingent of robotic devices to pull and pack items, alongside the human “Amazonians” working there.

Brand has announced that he wants to parlay Amazon and Ulta choosing to build distribution centers here as selling points to help promote Fresno as a prime spot for distribution centers.

In fact, he said the city is will try to locate such businesses and other types of large industry to the “triangle” of vacant parcels near the junctions of highways 41 and 99, neighboring the Ulta and Amazon sites.

Both Downs and Brand praised the work of Swearingen for helping get the ball rolling to bring Amazon to Fresno.

For her part, Swearingen said it wasn’t as daunting a task as some might expect, because she and other city leaders had been preparing the parcel — which included connecting water and sewer lines and other infrastructure close by — for a group of other interested developers who ended up pulling out.

So the land was practically “shovel ready” for a large development when Amazon — “We didn’t know it was Amazon at the time. We only knew it was a large developer” — approached city officials with an interest in locating here in late 2015.

“We were really prepared and able to push this locale,” Swearingen said, adding that the city also had prepared tax incentives for the other developers and used them as a template for offering tax incentives to Amazon.

Those incentives will total $30 million over 30 years, part of that in the form of partial reimbursements for the city’s portion of property taxes Amazon will pay, along with 100 percent of the city taxes paid by developers when they purchase construction machinery and building material, said Larry Westerlund, Fresno’s economic development director.

But the deal will be contingent on Amazon employing at least 750 people — half of its planned workforce — here, he and Brand noted.

Brand said those tax incentives should be offset by the economic benefits from the people working at the Amazon Fulfillment Center, as will goods and services purchased locally by Amazon, adding more jobs and economic gains for the area.

During his speech, Downes said that Amazon tries to be a good neighbors wherever the company locates, and in that vein announced the donation of $10,000 to the Fresno County Library system to help fund its DigiBus, essentially a computer center in a bus offering computer classes and computers for the public to use in different locations.

Dermody Propeties, a New Jersey-based capital development firm that is partially funding the new Amazon facility and will lease it to Amazon once construction is complete, provided a matching $10,000 donation to DigiBus.