By Jennifer Commercial 0 Comments

Year in Review: A look at Visalia’s new restaurants and what’s on the way

Lauren Jennings, Visalia Times-Delta
·5 min read

From family-owned start-up businesses to chain restaurants, Visalians now have more food options than before – with even more eateries on the way.

Here’s a quick look at some of the restaurants Visalia welcomed to town in 2022, as well as a few businesses planning to open shop next year:

This eatery offers customers a variety of mochi-themed treats, including donuts and waffles. Mochido also has Korean hotdogs — topped with Hot Cheetos or Ramen — on its menu Friday through Sunday.

Mochido is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday through Sunday. It’s located at 4237 S. Mooney Blvd.

Our Little Pizza Place offers take-and-bake pizzas, sandwiches and calzones using homemade red sauce and dough. Everything is customizable, and they even have a secret menu! This eatery is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 310 N. Mooney Blvd.

Texas Roadhouse offers hand-cut steaks prepared by an in-house butcher as well as freshly baked bread – made every five minutes and served with cinnamon butter – on top of ice-cold beer and margaritas. The restaurant is open from 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday at 4425 S. Mooney Boulevard.

Crumbl Cookies is a bakery that offers its customers the sweetest of treats – cookies made fresh daily – packaged perfectly in a pink box. The bakery has a rotating menu of cookies; however, their iconic milk chocolate chip cookies and pink sugar cookies are almost always for sale. On the menu this week, Galaxy Brownie, Tres Leches, Vanilla Crumb Cake, and Ultimate Peanut Butter. Crumbl Cookies is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to midnight on Friday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. The store is closed on Mondays and Sundays.

South Mooney Boulevard is the new home to Visalia’s third Mountain Mike’s Pizza. The eatery offers customers “mountain-sized” hand-made pizzas using fresh ingredients, including its iconic pepperoni. The new location at 3103 S. Mooney Blvd. is open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Located in the back of 1852 Visalia – a family-friendly indoor/outdoor soccer venue – this microbrewery features five core beers and a community series suds, “El Martillo,” or “The Hammer,” a brown ale. 1852 Visalia, located at 707 W. Murray, is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Located off of West Walnut Avenue and Akers Street, this eatery offers hungry customers 100% all beef dogs with no added nitrates, as well as hand-shaped, freshly baked buns, locally grown vegetables for toppings, and house-cooked potato chips. JoJo’s Grill-A-Dog, at 5101 W. Walnut Ave. Suite B, is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Butter + Milk Biscuit Bar is a family-owned restaurant and is the perfect early morning stop. The eatery offers its customers homemade biscuits, sandwiches, burritos, tacos, coffee and more. Butter + Milk Biscuit Bar, located at 3129 W. Noble Ave., is open daily from 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Ono ― which translates to “delicious” ― Hawaiian BBQ was founded 20 years ago, offering customers Hawaiian–inspired dishes using authentic recipes, including house-made Katsu and Teriyaki sauces. This restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at 708 S. Mooney Boulevard.

Mango Crazy started as an ice cream shop but quickly transformed into a restaurant serving savory and sweet treats alike. The eatery still has ice cream on its menu with various flavors including butter pecan, cookie monster, bubble gum and cotton candy. The eatery is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Sunday at 5221 West Walnut Avenue.

RareTea offers customers baked goods, like Thai tea macaroons, as well as boba, milk tea and coffee. Located near GameStop and Target, RareTea uses organic milk, locally sourced, fresh fruits, and real cane sugar in fruit jams and purees. The restaurant, located at 3318 N. Dinuba Boulevard, has an opening date set for noon on Jan. 8.

House of JuJu offers customers gourmet burgers and sliders, like the Dragon Lady – a juicy patty served with homemade spicy garlic aioli, house pickled onions, topped with teriyaki slaw – as well as other many staples like salads, wraps, hotdogs and flatbreads. The restaurant will be located off of West Main Street and North Locust Street, near Sequoia Brewing, and is rumored to open in January or February; however, an exact opening day is not set in stone.

Coming soon to the Sequoia Mall, Sprouts Farmers Market is a much-welcomed addition to town, offering customers fresh produce and organic food options. There is no official opening date yet. Construction is already underway at 3303 S. Mooney Boulevard, in the former Sears building.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Year in Review: A quick look at Visalia’s new restaurants

 

By Jennifer Back Office • Hi-Tech 0 Comments

FRESNO TECH FIRM ACQUIRES SAN JOSE COMPANY FOR $1.7M

Fresno-based Xobee Networks announced Wednesday that it has acquired Myers Network Solutions, a tech solutions provider based out of San Jose.

The acquisition aims to build on Xobee Networks managed IT service clientele as well as allow Xobee to provide resources and products to even more businesses in the Bay Area.

“Through this investment, Xobee will embolden and scale our resources and services to clients within San Jose and across the state,” said Eric Rawn, Xobee Networks founder and CEO. “We are investing in Myers Network Solutions because they are the marquee computer business solutions experts in San Jose, and we are well-positioned to help strengthen their team, resources, and products toward current and future clients.”

Xobee Networks agreed to purchase Myers Network Solutions for $1.7 million. Xobee plans to maintain the entire staff at Myers as they welcome them into the Xobee Networks brand.

Xobee Networks’ addition of Myers Network Solutions adds strength to a workforce of more than 100 skilled tech professionals already at Xobee.

With this acquisition, Xobee hopes to expand its managed support, cloud computing, cybersecurity, telecommunications, web development and networking services at an affordable cost.

“Since the agreement between Xobee Networks and Myers Network Solutions earlier this year, Xobee has been able to increase revenue month over month with an 18% growth in host services offerings,” according to a Xobee news release.

Xobee Networks was founded in 1996 by Eric Rawn, and has since grown to serve thousands of clients throughout California.

Rawn also owns tech solutions firm BCT Consulting in Fresno.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/fresno-tech-firm-acquires-san-jose-company-for-1-7m/

By Jennifer Economy 0 Comments

California Competes Tax Credit Program

The California Competes Tax Credit (CCTC) is an income tax credit available to businesses that want to locate in California or stay and grow in California. Businesses of any industry, size, or location compete for over $180 million available in tax credits by applying in one of the three application periods each year. Applicants will be analyzed based on twelve different factors of evaluation, including number of full-time jobs being created, amount of investment, and strategic importance to the state or region.

Application Period Timeline: For the remainder of the 2022-2023, applications for the California Competes Tax Credit will be accepted during the following periods:

By Jennifer Manufacturing 0 Comments

Plant Prefab to Open Nation’s First Automated Factory Dedicated to Efficiently and Sustainably Building Multifamily and Single-Family Housing

A preview of Plant Prefab’s first automated factory, a 270,000-square-foot regional production hub opening in 2023. Located in the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center just south of Bakersfield, CA, the factory enables Plant Prefab to serve the entire Western United States. The factory increases Plant Prefab’s production capacity to support large-scale developments, while enabling a step change in production velocity, quality control, and sustainability.

https://www.plantprefab.com/press-center/plant-prefab-first-automated-factory-for-sustainable-multifamily-and-single-family-housing

By Jennifer Economy • Food Processing 0 Comments

$1M IN FUNDING FOR CENTRAL VALLEY CITRUS BREEDING

Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual (CCM) and the Citrus Research Board (CRB) have received more than $1 million in new federal funding for critical research programs that support the U.S. and California citrus industries. Last week, Congress passed the 2023 Appropriations bill, which includes funding to help stop the deadly citrus plant disease Huanglonging (HLB) that has ravaged citrus production in Florida and other parts of the country.

The $1 million in new funding was approved to establish a citrus breeding program at the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) field station in Parlier. “The commitment of the citrus industry to delivering quality research and innovation for all farm use has taken a big step forward with the support of congress funding the citrus breeding program in Parlier,” said Justin Brown, CRB Chairman.  The funding will be re-appropriated annually.

The program, which was championed by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Representatives Jim Costa (D-Fresno) and David Valadao (R-Hanford), will identify new citrus varieties best suited for changing climatic pressures such as drought, consumer taste preferences and resistant to pests and diseases such as HLB. Parlier’s new program is an expansion of the existing national USDA ARS citrus breeding program in Florida, which focuses on varieties with higher yields, increased disease resistance, improved color and a longer shelf life. Based off of these advancements in Florida, the CCM and the CRB saw the need for a similar program in California that would work with unique environmental conditions of the state’s production regions.

CRB, a grower-funded organization aiming to further the industry’s research priorities, has committed $500,000 toward establishing the new breeding program in Parlier to bring additional representation to California’s industry. “The addition of the breeding facility in Parlier will make the ARS Citrus Program a truly national project,” said CCM President and CEO Casey Creamer. “We look forward to watching the growth of this program and its collaboration with the UC breeding program to find solutions to the issues California citrus growers are faced with every day.”

https://thebusinessjournal.com/1m-in-funding-for-central-valley-citrus-breeding/

By Jennifer New Developments • Workforce 0 Comments

Wonderful Company Inks Million Square Foot Lease with Fortune 500 Food Manufacturer at Wonderful Industrial Park

SHAFTER, CA; Sept 13, 2022 – Wonderful Real Estate Development, one of the most active industrial real estate developers on the West Coast, has leased its most recent 1 million-square-foot speculative building to a prominent Fortune 500 American food manufacturer. The building is located at 3800 Fanucchi Way and features 1,063,000 square feet, 40 feet of clear height, 215-dock high doors, and parking expandable to 1,000 stalls to accommodate trailers and employee spaces. The facility is located on a 70-acre site with a building-to-site coverage of 35 percent. The food manufacturer intends to use the facility as a distribution center to sort and ship goods across the western region, including California, Nevada, and Washington. More than 150 jobs will be created with operations expected to begin in Q1 2023.

“With over 10 million square feet of occupied space in Wonderful Industrial Park by some of the best-known brands in America, our park has become the premier logistics and distribution business park in the Western U.S. that reaches a population size and market that is comparable to New York and New Jersey’s. In terms of demand, we see no let up from tenants that require very large and efficient industrial real estate. In fact, we’re already underway with another 1 million-square-foot speculative building and have two tenant proposals in hand, as well as a speculative 400,000-square-foot building that will likely be leased before the building shell is completed,” said Joe Vargas, SIOR, and President of Wonderful Real Estate Development.

In the recent lease to the American food company, the landlord was represented by Phil Lombardo. Cruise Adams, and Andrew Starnes at Cushman and Wakefield and the tenant was represented by Lynn Reich, Suzanne Serino, and Steve Bellitti at Colliers.

Over the last 4 years, Wonderful Industrial Park has delivered three 1 million-square-foot warehouses and over 4 million square feet in industrial space including both build-to-suit and speculative projects. In 2021, Amazon leased a 1 million-square-foot building on 72-acres located at 4500 Express within Wonderful Industrial Park. Other large occupiers in the park include Ross Stores with +3 million square feet on 130 acres, Target’s 2 million square feet on 80 acres and, Walmart at 630,000 square feet and 80 feet of clear height on 60 acres. Walmart’s prototype state of the art grocery-focused distribution center incorporates the most sophisticated automated sorting equipment and systems in the industry. Other WIP occupants include Essendant (Staples, Inc), American Tire Distributors, Formica, and Hillman as well as other 3PLs who have found WIP’s location and amenities extremely profitable.

In addition to its industrial developments, WIP recently introduced the Wonderful Career Center, a 98,000-square-foot office project that includes office space for several Wonderful Company brands as well as a vocational tech training center, that features three classrooms, four labs with dock doors, and an expansive conference room that is available for use by both The Wonderful Company teams and WIP tenants. The vocational school’s current offering is the Wonderful Technical Operator Program, with a curriculum that prepares students for high-paying roles through mechanical and electrical training.

About Wonderful Industrial Park

WIP is a fully entitled 1,625-acre, world-class distribution center located approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The park is a rail-served industrial development, entitled for 26 million square feet, with nearly 10 million square feet completed and under operation to date. WIP provides tenants with access to a workforce population of over 700,000 residents within a 30-minute drive from the park.

WIP’s central location in California gives companies access to a robust transportation infrastructure. The property is minutes from Hwy-99, I-5 and Hwy-58 and offers convenient port access to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Oakland. The industrial park’s location allows access to 14 percent of the U.S. population within 300 miles and same-day delivery to 30 million Californians. It has a FedEx Ground hub onsite and is near a UPS ground hub in Bakersfield, CA with Meadows Field Airport located only seven miles away.

The park features an onsite rail yard with more than 17,000 feet of track able to accommodate unit trains with direct access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway’s mainline. WIP is equipped with an in-place high speed fiber optics network with 10 gigabytes in place with a capacity of 40 gigabytes.

About Wonderful Real Estate

Wonderful Real Estate is a professional real estate development and property management company owned by The Wonderful Company that develops, manages and invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate, with a particular focus on office and industrial properties. Leveraging over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, Wonderful and its affiliates currently have over 10 million square feet of real estate holdings, consisting of owner-occupied industrial and commercial real estate for its operating businesses and approximately 7 million square feet of actively managed office and industrial properties occupied by third parties located mainly in Southern and Central California.

Wonderful Real Estate and its affiliates have invested almost $2 billion since 2008 for commercial real estate development, facility improvements, processing equipment and real estate acquisitions. Wonderful and its affiliates are also currently developing three business parks totaling over 1,865 acres for office and industrial use in California’s Central Valley, a number of parcels of which have already been sold or leased to Fortune 500 companies and other high quality anchor tenants.

By Jennifer Economy 0 Comments

Southern California Investors strike gold in Central Valley housing market

TULARE COUNTY – High-end rental complexes in the Central Valley proved to be a gold mine for Southern California investors, as the Mogharebi Group brokered the sale of yet another major housing community this year.

The Mogharebi Group (TMG) brokered Oak View Apartments, a 237-unit garden-style multifamily community in Visalia, Calif., once again, but this time for $50 million. This is one of the largest multifamily transactions ever in Visalia, according to TMG executive vice president Otto Ozen. The new buyer plans to upgrade 173 units of the Oak View Apartments. Built on a 16.46-acre site in 1990, Oak View Apartments is located at 4700 W. Caldwell Avenue in Visalia. While under its previous ownership, those rooms remained unrenovated and only one of the community’s 37 duplexes had been fully renovated.  The property comprises 48 buildings totaling 209,610 rentable square feet. The property features one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans with an average size of 884 square feet.

Originally, the apartments were purchased by a private investor from Southern California on Nov. 3, 2020, for $42.5 million. However, two years later the property was up for sale again, and the lucky investor that scooped up the multifamily complex is also a private investor based out of Los Angeles. TMG specializes in the multifamily property sector throughout California, and this go around, they represented the seller, a private investor from Southern California.

The property also features two outdoor pools and spas, two playgrounds, three laundry centers, business center, fitness center, basketball/volleyball courts and reserved covered parking and garages. The property is adjacent to Linwood Elementary School, La Joya Middle School and is within a 30- to 60-minute commute to over 661,000 jobs.

This is not the first time TMG has helped sell large housing developments in the Central Valley, though. High-end rental complexes in the Valley have caught the attention of many Southern California investors looking to turn big profits on a tight housing market. Operations manager Brian Nakamura has said that many Southern California investors are buying homes within the Valley because it’s a much cheaper price per unit, and there is a much better capitalization rate in the Valley than in larger cities. Since their inception in 2015, TMG has been involved in the sale of more than 6,500 units in the Central Valley with sales exceeding $800 million.

A recent property TMG brokered the sale of was ReNew, a 128-unit development in Visalia from FPA Multifamily to a Santa Barbara-based private investment firm for $30.65 million in April 2022. In 2020 alone, TMG also brokered the sale of a 240-unit apartment complex in Bakersfield for $22 million, the sale of a 109-unit complex in Tulare for $15.66 million and a 237-unit complex in Visalia for $42.5 million.

In the last two years, 445 multifamily properties in the Central Valley have traded hands, 10% of those transactions brokered by TMG. Over that span, the average sales price per unit increased 21%.  The greatest increases could be found in 4- and 5-star properties which increased 28%.

There are plenty more in the permitting pipeline, as well. Apartment permits in Visalia were up 30% in the first two months of 2022 alone. Permits in Tulare are estimated to skyrocket as they are often priced lower than similar sized homes in Visalia, and the same can be said of apartment complexes as well.

https://thesungazette.com/article/business/real-estate/2022/12/31/southern-california-investors-strike-gold-in-central-valley-housing-market/

By Jennifer New Developments • Tourism • Workforce 0 Comments

Great Wolf Lodge Resort, Waterpark to Break Ground Near Visalia Next Year

A new Great Wolf Lodge luxury resort planned for the south valley is expected to generate nearly $2 billion in economic output, Tulare County officials say. The nationwide family attraction is scheduled to break ground in late 2023 and open in the fall of 2025 at the southeast corner of Highway 99 and Caldwell Avenue. It would be the third GWL in California, following Garden Grove (near Disneyland) and Manteca, which opened in 2021. The proposed 35-acre, 525-room hotel would include an indoor water park — a GWL signature. County planners tell GV Wire “the project is on track. Great Wolf is working on financing for the project. GWL is working with the city of Visalia on a sewer agreement which is expected to be approved by the end of the year.”

$33 Million Economic Impact

Tulare County officials say the resort hotel will generate 995 new jobs and 600,000 annual visitors. One-time economic output from construction is estimated at $1.7 billion, with labor earnings adding another $149 million. The county estimates revenue for the first 15 years at $33 million. That figure includes total economic output and labor earnings. An economic analysis — paid for by the county — also expects retail to expand in the area around the resort in the years ahead. “Retail spending is attracted to locations where other retail spending occurs because of the gravitational pull generated by existing successful retailers,” an analysis from Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. said. That could be as high as $28 million for Visalia and the surrounding area.

The county agreed to some incentives to seal the deal with Great Wolf Lodge last July, including sharing room tax revenue and deferral of development impact fees. For the first five years, GWL will keep all room tax revenue. The split is 75/25 for years 6-10, then 50/50 for years 11-15. The county also agreed not to give financial incentives to another large water park for 10 years. “Without these incentives, Great Wolf Resorts would not be able to move forward with financing the construction of the proposed development project,” a county staff report said.

Tulare County Wins Over Other Locations

The county said Great Wolf Lodge was also looking at locations near Bakersfield and the High Desert area of Kern County. “Tulare County reached out to see if they would also consider going up the road. Great Wolf took the meeting as a courtesy and ended up finding the infrastructure associated with the Sequoia Gateway Development was further along than any sites in Kern County and that Tulare County staff was ready to begin working on its own incentive plan,” the county said. “We processed the plan much quicker and were able to secure them coming to Tulare County instead of Kern County,” said Mike Washam, associate director of the county’s Resource Management Agency.

https://gvwire.com/2022/12/07/great-wolf-lodge-resort-waterpark-to-break-ground-near-visalia-next-year/?mc_cid=1bb6a60dee&mc_eid=d813f251f8