CapRock partners is proposing a third phase of its Center Point development in Visalia.

Plans for three more logistics buildings totaling 3 million square feet in the Visalia Industrial Park were reviewed this week by the city’s Site Plan Review Committee.

The largest projects are being submitted by CapRock Partners of Newport Beach, calling for construction of two concrete tilt-up buildings adding up to 2.68 million square feet. The building would be located west of Plaza Drive and south of Avenue 320. The developer hopes to break ground later this year.

CapRock set off the Visalia logistics boom, selling acreage to UPS that became a 450,000 square-foot package distribution hub that opened in 2020. That was followed by construction of the 1.1 million square-foot Amazon fulfillment center, operational as of last September. Between the two locations, 1,700 people are employed.

This past fall CapRock was well under way on construction of another 1.2 million square-foot building — again with no tenant announced — but most observers speculate it will be another Amazon facility just north of the existing complex. CapRock plans another pair of buildings just north of there called Center Point Phase 2.

What is now being proposed to city planners is CapRock’s Center Point Phase 3.

“Our generation is witnessing a massive shift in how the world economy operates with the integration of ecommerce and highly sophisticated technology in the industrial sector. CapRock is at the forefront of this evolution with a wave of support from some of the world’s leading institutional investment groups,” said Patrick Daniels, co-founder and chief executive officer of CapRock Partners.

Besides Visalia, the company is busy in Las Vegas, Texas and Phoenix, along with Southern California.

Founded in 2009, CapRock Partners is one of the leading private industrial real estate investment and development firms in the western U.S. The company specializes in acquiring middle-market, value-add industrial assets, developing large-scale institutional-quality Class A industrial warehouse facilities in key locations, and providing third-party asset management services for institutional investors. The firm is actively acquiring land for development across the West and Texas. Since inception, CapRock’s total investment, entitlement, and development pipeline is nearly 30 million square feet of industrial real estate.

Either built or in the pipeline for Visalia, CapRock has an estimated 6.5 million square feet. It took 60 years, 1958 to 2018, for the Visalia Industrial Park to get to 16.6 million square feet.

CapRock is not the only game in town. Another 1.1 million square-foot complex is being built by Seefried Industrial Properties on Plaza Street north of Goshen Avenue for Ace Hardware to be ready late this year. The distribution facility will employ 400.

G4 Enterprises

Also filed this week with the Site Plan Review Committee is a project to build a 320,000 square foot building on Kelsey Street, south of Goshen Avenue, proposed by Fowler Packing’s Parnagian family (G4 Enterprises Ltd.). The Parnagian family already owns MidState 99, a 720,000 square foot warehouse complex in Visalia. G4 has been busy in Fresno where they brought in Amazon west of Highway 99 a few years ago. Now the developer is being thwarted on expanding in West Fresno due to opposition from community groups. At the same time, negotiations with community groups lead to an agreement from G4 to reinforce homes in south central Fresno in response to added traffic from a second Amazon sorting facility near the first.

At a hearing last spring, developer Leland Parnagian noted that “The U.S. is really undergoing a shift in how people buy things from in-store to online and that’s really driving changes in employment around the country.”

Looking to add more industrial space in Fresno County, Board of Supervisors chair Steve Brandau was reported to say at the same hearing “I’ve just been appalled over and over again at the number of jobs and businesses that our community has lost to other regions, other cities in California.”

YS Industries

Add another project to the Visalia list. Another 365,000 square foot “spec” building has broken ground on Clancy Street south of Riggin Avenue being built by Visalia’s BJ Perch for YS Industries, based in Los Angeles. YS Industries built its first “spec” logistics warehouses in Visalia last year. These were two 300,000-square foot behemoths across from Amazon on the south side of Riggin Avenue in the Visalia Industrial Park. They are now filled. The buildings were also built by BJ Perch. The new building is just to the east of the twin structures. Spokesperson Freddie Molina says this too would be a spec building expected to be complete in 11 months. Molina says they are negotiating on another parcel for more projects.

Besides these players, the Ritchie-Vidovich partners are working on both smaller and massive industrial projects on land they own to be built in the Visalia Industrial Park.They own hundreds of acres just east of the CapRock — clear to Shirk Road and north of Riggin Avenue.

Also busy is John Brelsford of Fresno of Diversified Development Group who will soon begin developing a 160-acre parcel at the northwest corner of Plaza Street and Riggin Avenue, likely following the pattern he has built in the industrial park of clustering medium-size buildings on a parcel. His latest is on display at the southeast corner of Riggin Avenue and Plaza Street.