By Faughn Energy • New Developments 0 Comments

Power play: State plans to build emergency power plant in Lodi

After last month’s unprecedented heatwave that caused an hours-long power outage, the City of Lodi and the State of California plan to build a facility to ensure a similar event does not happen again. The Lodi City Council unanimously approved partnering with the state to locate, develop, construct and operate a natural gas power plant during its Wednesday night meeting. The facility would create anywhere between 20 and 48 megawatts of emergency power and be delivered directly into Lodi, rather than be transferred through a third-party system, city manager Steve Schwabauer said. Although Lodi owns and operates its own electric utility, the city’s energy is currently delivered through three PG&E sub-transmission lines.

On the morning Sept. 8, a set of production relays on one of those sub-transmission lines failed at the substation located near Lodi and Guild avenues. Lodi Electric Utility staff replaced the relays almost immediately, but PG&E was required to approve the repairs, which took the entire day. With one relay down, the city said it was required to shed power, and it began implementing one-hour rotating power outages at about 4:40 p.m. that day. The outages lasted 61⁄2 hours.

On Wednesday, Schwabauer told the council that staff and PG&E are currently discussing whether the rotating blackouts were an appropriate solution to the equipment failure. “But in the meantime, we are subject to this happening again if another line were to go down,” Schwabauer said. “Electric utility assets are supposed to be constructed to be resilient enough to handle one element going down. In this case, the transmission lines are not able to handle one line going down.” Schwabauer said the new facility, to be funded completely by the state, would only generate power in the event of an emergency, and must be operational by the summer of 2023.

In addition, it would only be needed until about 2028, when PG&E’s Northern San Joaquin 230kV Transmission Project is complete. Formerly known as Northern San Joaquin Power Connect, the 230kV project involves connecting an existing PG&E transmission line into the agency’s Lockeford substation on Kettleman Lane just east of Highway 88. The project also includes building a new overhead transmission line from the Lockeford substation to a new switching station on Thurman Street in Lodi.

A location for the proposed Lodi power plant has not been identified, Schwabauer said, mainly because staff only learned of the project last week at the Northern California Power Agency Annual Conference. “The location question is dependent upon a number of factors,” he said. “It needs to be close to a substation. It needs to be close to a gas line. It needs to be physically possible to get a gas line to it. It needs to be physically possibly to connect electricity to it.”

Taking these factors into consideration, Schwabauer said staff is examining the feasibility of three locations: the existing Industrial Road substation, the substation at Lodi Lake near the water treatment plant and the General Mills facility. “This is a great opportunity for our community not to ever have to experience 6.5 hours of rolling blackouts, (that is) funded by the State of California,” he said. “It will, if it’s constructed, provide some relief to the state of California as well. It has a greater benefit to the state because it creates new (energy) generation.” While the power plant will be funded by the state, Schwabauer said the city will incur about $4 million in costs.

However, he said those costs will be reimbursed by the state to interconnect the power plant into the Lodi Electric Utility system. Other costs the city could potentially incur are land purchases or leasing the site, if the General Mills facility is chosen as the location, he said. “I think this is a wonderful chance for our city to take advantage of this opportunity, that is unprecedented,” Councilman Doug Kuehne said.

https://www.lodinews.com/news/article_2227a970-45e0-11ed-83d4-fbb725b1dbe3.html

By Faughn Energy • New Developments 0 Comments

State plans to build a power plant near Modesto to avert rolling outages

The state plans to build a power plant near northeast Modesto to help fend off rolling outages starting next summer. The plant, fueled by natural gas, would kick on when demand threatens to exceed supply around California. It would be built on a Claribel Road site owned by the Modesto Irrigation District. The MID board voted 5-0 on Tuesday for a tentative agreement that would bring $13 million for use of the land over five years. The district eventually could buy the plant at a steep discount to feed its own electricity system. It already has a substation and transmission lines at the site. “Frankly, to get a deal like this on generation is just unprecedented,” said James McFall, assistant general manager for electric resources, just before the vote. The timeline is unusual, too. A new power plant normally takes several years to plan and build. The Claribel plant would be installed by Enchanted Rock, a Houston-based energy company that specializes in quick builds.

It would consist of several engines in a stack that could be turned on as needed, much faster than a conventional plant. The site is on the south side of Claribel, half a mile west of Oakdale Road. DWR plans to spend $2.36 billion on such plants around California, said an email from Ryan Endean, assistant deputy director of communications. The amount for the Claribel project is not yet determined. The program aims to keep PG&E and other utilities from having to impose intentional outages on hot days, as happened in recent years. MID is less vulnerable than many, thanks to its flat terrain and lack of dense forest.

The state would own and run the plant for at least five years, with an option for two more. MID could then acquire it for $15.5 million. The plant would have a capacity of 48 megawatts. MID’s total demand typically is about 650 megawatts on summer days with air conditioners and industries humming. MID could use the Claribel plant for its own emergencies when DWR does not need it during the contract term. District leaders said it would come in handy on days like Sept. 6, when demand surged to a record 760 megawatts amid 113-degree heat. That was 58 megawatts beyond the old record. “Just a month ago, we were a little concerned there,” Director Larry Byrd said. “… A little padding would help.”

DWR has long been in the electricity business, generating it at several dams and consuming it to pump water around the state. It was tasked with the outage prevention effort via Assembly Bill 205, enacted in June. The MID board still has to approve a formal contract with DWR and Enchanted Rock. The tentative terms call for completion by July 31, 2023. Along with the $3 million for use of the site, MID would receive up to $250,000 to cover its costs in integrating the plant into the grid. The district is part of an elaborate network for buying and selling electricity across many states. The state requires utilities to get at least 60% of their power from renewable sources by 2030 and all of it by 2045. That gives MID roughly two decades to use the Claribel plant if it opts to buy it from the state. Enchanted Rock has provided gas-fired plants to utilities and other clients around the nation, Chief Commercial Officer Allan Schurr said by phone. They include hospitals, grocers, computer data centers and others concerned about outages. Last month, the city-owned utility in Lodi launched negotiations for a plant of 20 to 48 megawatts. The location and financial terms have not been set. The City Council acted after a major outage amid the early September heat.

 

https://www.modbee.com/news/local/article267177091.html

By Faughn Distribution • New Developments 0 Comments

500K SQUARE FEET OF ALMOND COLD STORAGE COMING TO MADERA

Developers broke ground Tuesday on an almond cold storage facility in Madera open to all growers in hopes of alleviating price pressures on the nut. The owners hope the facility at 2842 N. Golden State Blvd. will be the first of many throughout the Central Valley. A project over seven years in the making, Amond World looks to open by the second quarter of 2023, said Robert Sullivan, managing partner for the company. The company name (“almond” without the “L”) links to a colloquialism of the word “almond” popular in the Central Valley — pronounced “am-end.”

The two 250,000-square-foot buildings are focused entirely on almonds. What separates this facility from others is that they will take almonds from any grower, according to Steve Sagouspe, managing partner along with Sullivan. The cold storage will allow almonds to be stored up to two years, meaning during times of plenty, growers can keep the nut in storage rather than bringing it to market. Each building will be able to store 50 million pounds of finished product. “I think farmers and processors are going to really enjoy the opportunity of being able to time their sale rather than having to get rid of it,” Sullivan said. With shipping disrupted as it is now, growers are having to sit on massive amounts of product, creating gluts in the market. Almonds this year have traded below $2 a pound, down from highs of $5 a pound a few years ago. Having access to cold storage means longer shelf life and more stable markets, Sagouspe said.

This also means the almonds don’t need to be fumigated for sanitary purposes. They will also be able to store certified organic almonds. Sullivan and Sagouspe contracted with Madera’s Span Development to build their ground-up development at the Madera Airport Industrial Park. Sullivan hopes to have the building up in the first half of 2023. The Amond World model allows for more growth in the Valley — anywhere almond grows, he added. They are currently scouting additional real estate near Chowchilla and Pixley.

The partnership with Span Development allows them to build several at a time. Part of the seven-year delay came with finding investors, said Sagouspe. They had courted suitors from other parts of the world, but they weren’t a good fit. They eventually found Adam Hayner from Los Angeles-based Origo Investments. The fit was good, he said. Coming from Washington originally and being involved in apple farming, Hayner knew about the importance of cold storage, Sagouspe said. Hayner said supporting the Central Valley is integral to supporting the food chain. The building would also be built with sustainable materials and powered by renewable energy, including solar panels and solar batteries. Sullivan hopes within five years to have 5 million square feet of cold storage online. Sullivan and Sagouspe were both previously real estate brokers with backgrounds in ag, but said Amond World is their new full-time job.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/500k-square-feet-of-almond-cold-storage-coming-to-madera/

By Faughn New Developments • Workforce 0 Comments

Chowchilla leaders herald new $150M AutoZone distribution center, will create 300 jobs

Valley leaders say an empty dirt lot on Highway 99 in Chowchilla will soon be an important center of economic growth for the city, as well as the Madera-Merced County region. Those officials teamed with AutoZone representatives Friday morning to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new $150 million distribution center that will be built in Chowchilla. Chowchilla City Administrator Rod Pruett called it the biggest project to come to the city in decades. The 560,000 square foot facility will serve close to 300 AutoZone stores in Northern California, Oregon and Nevada. There are more than 6,000 AutoZone stores located in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the company’s website.

The project is expected to create close to 300 full-time jobs. The site of the distribution center will be along Chowchilla Boulevard, near Highway 99. “This is a huge day,” Pruett said. “This is the biggest project that’s come to Chowchilla in decades. It brings close to 300 jobs to our community which is a huge deal for us. It’s been over two years in the making.” “These are careers, not just jobs,” Pruett added. “High school kids can stay here in the community. They don’t have to leave. It keeps families intact here. It brings even more to our community as well.” AutoZone officials chose Chowchilla over several sites they were considering. “We were looking for somewhere to expand our presence in Northern California and we looked all over this region,” said Bill Rhodes, who is the AutoZone President and CEO.

Rhodes said he and other AutoZone representatives were impressed with the commitment of the Chowchilla city leaders drive to economic development in their community. “It’s going to take a couple years for us to build the facility,” Rhodes said. “We’ll put $150 million or more into the building. It’ll be 560,000 square feet, housing at least 300 Auto Zoners (employees) and it’ll probably grow pretty extensively beyond that as the years go. We’ll be servicing at least 300 stores and probably get to 500 or 600 stores over time. We’ll have a big fleet of tractor trailers that are coming in and out of here every single day.” Officials say they expect the facility to open near the end of 2023. “It stands for an opportunity (for) growth in a small community,” said Chowchilla Mayor John Chavez. “It stands for sustainable jobs where we reside. It stands for a solid future of development in our industrial area. It stands for a huge milestone for Chowchilla. This is probably the biggest thing to happen in Chowchilla since I’ve been here.”

https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/article264700434.html

By Faughn New Developments • Tourism • Workforce 0 Comments

State senate passes Gaming Compact Agreement for Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tejon

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KERO) — The California State Senate passed the Gaming Compact Agreement for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tejon on Wednesday night in Sacramento.

The hotel and casino, which will be built just south of Bakersfield, are expected to bring 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, adding over $60 million in payroll every year, as well as making the area a tourism hub for the region. The project is expected to create 400 guest rooms, several restaurants, and entertainment venue, and a convention center. The land on which the resort will sit will become the Tejon Indian Tribe’s first reservation. The Tejon Indian Tribe says 52 acres of the site will be devoted to the resort hotel and casino, while 22 adjacent acres will be designated for an RV park. The remainder of the property will be used for other tribal purposes including administrative offices, a health facility, housing and supporting infrastructure.

The tribe, in partnership with Kern County and Hard Rock International, will also build a joint substation for the Kern County Fire Department and Kern County Sheriff’s Office next to the hotel in order to ensure the safety of residents and visitors in the area. No taxpayer money will be used to operate the hotel or any supporting infrastructure. Governor Gavin Newsom signed off on the Gaming Compact Agreement on June 14, 2022, paving the way for the approval of the state senate.

https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/state-senate-passes-gaming-compact-agreement-for-hard-rock-hotel-and-casino-tejon

By Faughn New Developments • Tourism 0 Comments

County board moves ahead with Great Wolf Resort development

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors took a step on Tuesday to bringing North America’s largest water park resort in the county. The board approved a request from the Tulare County Resource Management Agency to receive an Economic Impact Analysis for the Great Wolf Resort. Great Wolf plans to place the resort at Highway 99 and Caldwell Avenue just west of Visalia where the Sequoia Gateway Commerce Center is being developed.

The 35-acre resort would include a 525-room hotel with an indoor water park, restaurants, meeting space and a family activity center. There are 19 Great Wolf Resorts located throughout the U.S. And Canada. Great Wolf Resort is billed as “a cruise ship that’s permanently parked” as virtually all of the features of the resort are indoors. As part of the Economic Impact Analysis the board approved an agreement between the county and Great Wolf in which the county and resort would share the revenues from the transient occupancy taxes that are charged to guests who stay at the hotel.

Great Wolf and the county would share the TOT taxes for the first 15 years. Great Wolf would receive 100 percent of the TOT proceeds over the first five years. Over the next five years the county would receive 25 percent of the proceeds and the resort would receive 75 percent. Over the final five years the split would be 50-50. After 15 years, the county would receive all of the TOT proceeds. In addition the county would also agree not to provide any financial incentives to an indoor water park that would be 5,000 square feet or larger for 10 years.

In addition Great Wolf would use a portion of its TOT revenue to pay for some of the impact fees it will be charged for the project. County staff reported the revenue sharing agreement with the TOT taxes was necessary for Great Wolf to move ahead with the project. The company that manages the resort will officially be known as GWR Tulare LLC. “To assist with the significant investment associated with the development, GWR Tulare LLC has requested to share a portion of transient occupancy tax revenues that are generated by the project and the deferral of certain impact which will be recaptured through TOT revenue,” county staff reported. “Without these incentive Great Wolf Resorts would not be able to move forward with financing the construction of the proposed development project.”

County staff also stated the incentives provided are similar to what other areas have provided to Great Wolf and similar large-scale resorts. It’s anticipated the final map and development agreement will be completed by the end of the year. Once construction begins its estimated it will take two years. The construction project alone is expected to create 1,255 jobs while the resort once its operating is expected to create 660 jobs.

County staff stated it anticipated the resort would draw more than 600,000 visitors a year. “Hotel water park guests are typically families and can include extended families and groups of friends and family,” the county staff report stated. County staff added those who visit the resort will typically stay for 2-3 days or more and will travel a few hours to come to the resort. “Visitors to the proposed resort would likely come from throughout the San Joaquin Valley and beyond,” county staff stated.

County staff also reported the resort should also benefit the area as a whole economically as some who visit the resort will also go to other businesses to make retail purchases and may eat at other restaurants as well. County staff stated those who don’t state at the hotel who visit the resort will mostly come from Tulare County.

https://www.recorderonline.com/news/county-board-moves-ahead-with-great-wolf-resort-development/article_8d0e9a56-0e8f-11ed-910a-df33d2bb2a76.html

By Faughn New Developments 0 Comments

Plans for housing, hotel near UC Merced campus receive show of City Council support

A proposed plan to add over 900 new housing units geared toward UC students received a unanimous show of support from the Merced City Council Monday night. Titled UC Villages, the preliminary annexation application imagines 922 new — and sorely needed — apartment units situated near the main entrance to the UC Merced campus. A percentage of the development will include affordable housing units. “Obviously, we’re in a crisis with housing our UC students,” Councilmember Fernando Echevarria said before casting his vote of support during Monday’s City Council meeting.

The tenuous availability of student housing was made clear last year when UC Merced was forced to delay the first day of in-person classes due to roughly 1,000 students still struggling to secure homes less than a month before the start of the school year. Given the support shown by the City Council, project applicant and several residents who spoke during the meeting, all signs indicate so far that the project will move along toward fruition. “I’ve been the face of this project for 16 years and I’m here to see it through. I’ve been ready for a long time and excited to get going,” project applicant Sid Lakireddy told the City Council Monday.

Echevarria also lauded Lakireddy for being mindful of issues that stalled other similar developments. Three City Council members recently rejected another proposed pre-annexation project located near UC Merced, citing a lack of attention to affordable housing and hiring locally. The opposition resulted in the project failing to garner a show of support from the council when it came time to vote.

Lakireddy noted in a letter to the city that he intends to have the project’s affordable units built during the first phase. He also stated that he plans to hire local contractors and workers to build and operate the project. “That is going to assist a lot of people who are unemployed. It’s very important,” Echevarria said.

According to preliminary planning documents, at least 12.5% of homes would be designated affordable housing spread across all income levels. Affordable units have costs fixed so that lower-income occupants spend no more than 30% of their income on housing. bee-2020-2Aerial view of the UC Merced campus in an undated photo. Lake Road runs along the bottom of the photo and its intersection with Bellevue Road is in the bottom right.

Located at the west side of Lake Road, south of Bellevue Road, the 35.6-acre mixed-use development is one of several recently proposed annexation projects poised to build much-needed housing units near the college campus. Project includes retail space, hotel

The project also has plans to construct over 1 million square feet of retail and hospitality space, including a 161-room, five-story hotel. The council’s vote Monday represented an early step in the city’s annexation pre-application process. After reviewing a project’s overview, the City Council indicates general support or non-support for an official annexation application to proceed. The project applicants then decide whether to move forward.

Per the city’s annexation process, UC Villages can’t officially join within Merced’s boundaries until plans to annex UC Merced are completed first. Lakireddy asked the council to make annexation of the campus a priority so his project and other similar proposed annexations can move forward. “I think Merced’s time is now. I think it’s time to capitalize on it and this would be a good start by annexing UC Merced,” he said.

No residents or Merced officials spoke in direct opposition of the project Monday, but some concerns were cited over spreading city services like the water and wastewater systems too thin. Sheng Xiong, a Merced resident and policy advocate with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, voiced concerns over how expanding north might come at the expense of drawing water away from south Merced.

Prior meetings with Merced County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) staff also raised concerns over the city’s ability to provide the needed infrastructure and services for UC Villages, along with the other proposed pre-applications and official annexations moving forward in north Merced. Wastewater concerns were noted in particular.

According to city documents, the UC Villages project and other similar annexations would exhaust the city’s wastewater capacity. That means the phasing of each project will be critical to ensuring there’s ample capacity for each project and that the wastewater system must eventually be expanded to accommodate the developments.

https://app.meltwater.com/newsletters/analytics/view/5e8624bb4a32930012f3b64d/newsletter/61c4b6b1c1abab0013267cc9/distribution/62fd17f5f9ea9f0013af34fb/document/MERCED0020220816ei8g0002t

By Faughn Hi-Tech • New Developments 0 Comments

High-Speed Rail Authority Completes Overpass, Opens Roadway to Traffic in Madera County

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority), in collaboration with contractor Tutor-Perini / Zachry / Parsons, announced today the Avenue 15 ½ Grade Separation in Madera County is now open to traffic. The new overpass is located at Road 29 / Santa Fe Drive, east of the City of Madera. It took 16 pre-cast concrete girders and nearly 117 pre-cast concrete deck panels to complete the structure, which spans 468 feet, is 40 feet wide and takes traffic over the existing BNSF rail and future high-speed rail lines.

Completing another structure in the Central Valley is the latest sign of progress for the high-speed rail project. At its Board of Directors meeting earlier this month, the Authority awarded two contracts to advance design along the Merced to Madera and Fresno to Bakersfield Locally Generated Alternative project sections, expanding the 119-mile segment to 171 miles of electrified high-speed rail under development and construction.

In addition, the Board also approved the environmental documents for the San Francisco to San Jose project section, meaning 422 of the 500-mile high-speed rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles has been environmentally cleared. Earlier this summer, the Authority announced the creation of more than 8,000 jobs since the start of the project, with a majority going to residents in the Central Valley.

NEWS RELEASE: High-Speed Rail Authority Completes Overpass, Opens Roadway to Traffic in Madera County – California High Speed Rail

By Faughn New Developments • Workforce 0 Comments

Industrial park grows by leaps and bounds

VISALIA – Another 2,000 jobs might be capping off the recent industrial boom as a familiar developer continues to expand the boundaries of the Visalia Industrial Park. After luring Amazon into two, million square plus warehouses in the industrial park, Newport Beach-based CapRock is now planning an even larger complex west of Plaza Drive and a mile north of Riggin Avenue. The industrial park’s largest developer plans to build four concrete tilt-up buildings totalling 2.7 million square feet on the 155-acre parcel. Principal owner Pat Daniels said CapRock would break ground on the first phase of the project next year. While the tenants for the  buildings are speculative, the plan suggests they could employ around 2,000 workers with some 2,100 parking places for cars. The plan says they want to feed inbound trucks into the new cluster of buildings off of Plaza.

The huge parcel, considered phase 3 of the Caprock’s industrial park developments, will be sandwiched in between Kibler Avenue (Avenue 320) on the north, Plaza Drive on the east, American Street (Road 76) to the west and Riverway Drive on the south – one mile north of Riggin along Modoc Ditch. Full buildout and signalization of the Kibler Ave. and Plaza Dr. intersection is required with the development of the new Amazon center now nearing completion just north of the first Amazon, part of Phase 2A of the Caprock projects. Caprock’s overall plan also includes another 1 million square feet planned for a vacant lot at the southeast corner of Kibler and Plaza as part of its Phase 2b. Now Daniels has leapt over Plaza to begin and build Phase 3 before Phase 2b starts in a few years. The reason could be Daniels has a different LLC who looks to invest in Phase 3 and perhaps a proposed tenant who has selected this location a mile closer to Highway 99. This new project is breaking new ground in this area as it will require all off-site infrastructure to be in place before development is done, a time consuming process. Phase 3 was submitted for Site Plan Review in January and has incorporated changes received from the city through subsequent meetings on Jan. 21 and March 29, 2022. The city has required the project be built out in phases and is not allowing cars or commercial vehicles to access Building 1 from American (Road 76). Other changes include reducing the size of Building 1 by 34,000 sf and shifting it 110 feet to the south, relocating a retention basin, splitting a 1.3 million square foot Building 2 into three smaller buildings of 322,000, 598,000 and 510,000 square feet.

CapRock kicked off the Visalia logistics boom when it sold acreage to UPS that became a 450,000 square-foot package distribution hub opening in 2020. That was followed by construction of the 1.1 million square-foot Amazon fulfillment center, operational as of last September. About 1,700 people are employed between the two locations. A handful of large players are building or planning to build. Phoenix based Seefried Industries is nearing completion on the new Ace Hardware distribution center and planning another 535,00 sf spec building. Just last week, YS Industries filed plans for a 1.55 million sf development. Fowler Packing is planing to break ground early next year on a 312,000 square foot warehouse. American Air’s Butch Oldfield, busy with a slew of new industrial projects, and Irvine-based Greenfield Partners are working on a 2 million sf complex at Kelsey and 198. Also in the works is the Ritchie/Vidovich partnership’s plan to develop a massive new section of industrial land north of Riggin and west of Shirk totaling 280 acres and adding about 3,000 new jobs. Besides these big projects, the industrial park is also laying out new mom and pop industrial parcels from 5 to 10 acres mostly south of Goshen Avenue along American. Investor Santokh Toor has filed preliminary plans for an 80-acre development with 10 small parcels at the corner of American and Hurley, west of Plaza.

https://thesungazette.com/article/business/2022/08/02/industrial-park-grows-by-leaps-and-bounds/

By Faughn New Developments • Quality of Life 0 Comments

Downtown Lindsay expects major upgrades

LINDSAY – After major retailers abandoned Lindsay in the ’90s, followed by a small recession, then a Great Recession and then COVID-19, the city can use all the help they can get to rejuvenate their downtown. In the first step of many the city of Lindsay partnered with the consulting firm Retail Strategies to update the downtown area. Retail Strategies approaches projects from a commercial development side and a downtown strategies side. The commercial development portfolio director Brookley Valencia presented Retail Strategie’s’ findings from their discovery phase. After conducting some research, the firm presented its more general findings and plans for Lindsay’s downtown at the July 26 city council meeting.

The discovery phase found gaps in four main categories: clothing stores, restaurants, general merchandise and furniture stores. These are areas where people are shopping outside of Lindsay and the goal is to bring that money back into Lindsay by filling those gaps in the market. “Our goal is to open the doors for Lindsay to recover and support the community after COVID-19 and create new businesses, new jobs and improve quality of life,” Valencia said. The information collected during the discovery phase will be used to help connect Lindsay with retailers in order to bring in stores and restaurants that are a good fit for the town. The discovery phase is ongoing, but Retail Strategies will now begin its implementation phase of actually reaching out to retailers to bring them to Lindsay.

On the downtown side, Jeremy Murdock gave a presentation of Retail Strategies’s five-year plan for Lindsay’s downtown, including both aesthetic and retail updates. The plan focuses on creating a positive image that showcases the community’s unique characteristics as well as improving the economy. “A livable, walkable, viable, economically-sustainable downtown is the ultimate goal,” city manager Joe Tanner said. The city reached out to Retail Strategies with the goal of updating their downtown for two reasons: increasing overall quality of life for residents and generating tax revenue for the city. The tax revenue generated from new businesses will help the city fund public services such as parks and recreation, police and fire.

Retail Strategies has developed what they call a property catalog, which is a list of all the available properties including plots of land to be developed as well as empty storefronts and quick-service restaurants. The next step will be connecting those properties with interested retailers. “Our task is to really push Lindsay in front of retail prospects and if they’re expanding into the area, help them find a site and facilitate the conversation to hopefully get a deal going,” said Valencia. Deals between cities and retailers can take between 18 and 36 months, so it will take a few years before residents see major changes to the stores and restaurants in Lindsay. Retail Strategies will stay on as a consultant throughout the project as a liaison between the city and retailers.

https://thesungazette.com/article/business/2022/08/02/downtown-lindsay-expects-major-upgrades/