Buckman-Mitchell Announces Move To East Visalia

By Miles Shuper

Visalia - Buckman-Mitchell, one of Visalia's oldest and prominent downtown businesses and one of the largest independent insurance agencies in the West has unveiled plans to develop and move to another downtown location.

Buckman-Mitchell up and announced plans to occupy one of three 30,000 sq foot 2-story professional buildings along Santa Fe Avenue between Murray and Race Streets on property purchased by Visalia Land and Investment LLC, a company owned by Buckman-Mitchell principles.

The first of three early California style buildings will be the new headquarters for Buckman-Mitchell, according to Cliff Dunbar, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, who said the new Buckman-Mitchell building, at the northeast corner of Murray and Santa Fe., could be completed within 18 months.

Done Deal

Dunbar made the announcement of Buckman-Mitchell's pending move to its 85 employees Tuesday morning. There had been indications for several months that the company was considering a move or major expansion but nothing was official until Tuesday.

Dunbar said “This has been an 18-month process to this point and I'm extremely pleased to start this project which will accommodate our growth and provide a state of the art facility to accommodate our staff and our clients. We also are pleased to be involved in the city's plan to develop east Visalia.”

The entire project is estimated to cost between $18 million to $22 million. The current Buckman-Mitchell building is estimated to be more than $6 million.

Dunbar told the Valley Voice that negotiations are underway for a possible merger with another local insurance agency but nothing has been finalized. Visalia Land and Investment and Visalia Citrus Packing Group LP have formed a joint venture for the other two buildings. The entire complex will be called Visalia Centre Plaza. Visalia Citrus, which sold the 3.5-acre site to Visalia Land and Investment LLC, has its current headquarters at the northeast corner of Race and Santa Fe (501 E. Race). Visalia Citrus will remain at its present location until at least one of the other two buildings is completed, according to Rick Stacy, the citrus company's chief financial officer. Stacy said it is likely Visalia Citrus could occupy a portion of one of those buildings but no final decision has been made. Warehouse and other buildings on the site not in use will be demolished.

Harvey May, president of Paloma Development who has been working on the ambitious project said no timetable has been set for the completion of all three buildings which will have an integrated design. Site plan reviews have been completed and the conditional use permit approval is pending. He anticipates construction to begin shortly after the first of next year with construction completion taking about a year.

In unveiling the plans, May said a courtyard will be included between the Buckman-Mitchell building and the second building to be constructed on the site.

Santa Fe Location

May said the Early California design will fit into what has been the trend in the expansion into East Visalia area which has been on the fast track in recent years. The city's decision to make Santa Fe the next north-south thoroughfare is expected to spark even more development in the area. That project, which includes the construction of a bridge over Highway 198 within the next three years, was a key to several decisions to shift the focus of expansion of the downtown in that direction.

Dunbar and May both anticipate Santa Fe becoming a major area for new growth from the St. Johns River on the north to south of Caldwell Avenue.

The project will be built by B.J. Perch Construction and was designed by Teter A&E, with Clay Davis the chief architect, according to May who said the engineering is being done by Lane Engineering.

The project is the latest and one of the major moves in the revitalization and expanded development of east Visalia and is two blocks from where the new Visalia city hall and government center is planned. Dunbar said the choice of early California design was selected to complement other new buildings including the city transit complex and other business and government buildings in the area.

Citing the company's deep roots in downtown Visalia, Dunbar said it was an easy decision for Buckman-Mitchell to expand in the downtown area. Although no decision has been made of what will be done with the current Buckman-Mitchell headquarters at 309 W. Main (Main and Floral) Dunbar said three options are being considered. The options include leasing it as it is, reconstructing it to three or four stories or selling it.

Buckman-Mitchell has been at that site since 1987 when it was purchased from Brent Ensign who operated a clothing store at that site which previously was Sears. Prior to that Buckman-Mitchell was located 506 W. Main where Citizens Bank currently is located. Buckman-Mitchell has long been a leader in the Visalia business community, especially in the downtown area.

C. (Clem) T. Mitchell began selling accident insurance policies in 1916 after graduating from Visalia High School in 1907 and working as an engineer and surveyor.

Buckman, who died in 1978 was a colorful personality and a world-renowned hunter who authored “75 Years with a Shotgun.”

Buckman and Visalia banker Hyman Mitchell started Buckman-Mitchell, Inc. in 1921. Buckman became a leader in the California insurance business and was president of the Independent Insurance Agents Association of California in 1933.

The company currently sells all lines of insurance and is among the West's largest independent agencies. In 2005 Buckman-Mitchell was ranked 82nd of the largest independent agencies in the nation with between $75 million and $100 million in sales and holds licenses in more than 30 states.

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San Joaquin Valley - The San Joaquin Rail Committee is made up of representatives of Central Valley cities and counties who advise Cal Trans on Amtrak passenger train operations. At their next meeting Tulare representatives Ty Holscher and Connie Conway plan to present a “Resolution for Rail” to use the Union Pacific railroad line adjacent Highway 99 for passenger rail service. By all accounts the rail proposal will likely get near unanimous approval from the committee.

The move comes after a few years of effort to get Union Pacific to listen to Highway 99 towns who would like increased commuter connections to large valley towns that, in turn, would allow more convenient access to the statewide Amtrak route.

“We can’t wait to see what happens with High Speed Rail” in California, says Tulare businessman Ty Holscher. “We have a lot of people in the valley with modest income that need service and don’t have cars. We need commuter service that would help ease congestion and clean the air.”

The difficulty has been getting the attention of the Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad, that bought out Southern Pacific back in the 1970s. Union Pacific wants to retain the rail corridor to run freight cargo and business is very good these days.

But just in recent months UP may be ready to at least sit down to talk to valley leaders who are prepared to lobby for carrots that might attract the railroad to the idea. The carrot - statewide bond money that can be used to improve tracks.

“We had a bidding war over Amtrak California monies in the 1990s when track improvement bonds were available,” says Holscher - a bidding war that rival BNSF won. Now the Santa Fe line that runs from Fresno to Hanford, Corcoran to Bakersfield is where all Amtrak trains run, with millions of public monies helping to improve those tracks over the years.

But the westside valley route offers poor access to the population centers along Highway 99, say leaders like Kingsburg mayor Leland Bergstrom who also sits on the rail committee.

Holscher says after years of non response “for the first time at a meeting of the rail committee that I can remember, a Union Pacific representative, Jerry Wilmoth, general manager of Network Infrastructure Transportation for UP, was in attendance. Jerry came up to me after the September meeting and suggested we get together and talk about it.”

Holscher says several measures on this November ballot include monies that can be used to build additional rail infrastructure if the public is allowed access for passenger service. “This is the first overture I’ve had on the issue.”

Holscher, Conway and Mr. Wilmoth plan to meet late this month.

Double Track?

Holscher says his vision would be to have a double track up and down Highway 99 with the City of Tulare as the hub “just like it was historically.” We could see small feeder trains running north and south every day from Tulare, he suggests, with train access near the new proposed intermodal station being built near J Street.

Holscher says he believes “you don’t have to try to shove the plan down Union Pacific’s throat” that there is clear mutual benefit in the plan to form a partnership that could mean rail service to Tulare County - not in a decade or two maybe but much sooner with rolling stock provided by Cal Trans that runs Amtrak in the state. The current Amtrak line - the San Joaquin continues to gain ridership.

One bottleneck in the system continues to be no passenger rail service into LA and some rail committee members would like to see a new route offered similar to what the High Speed Rail plan calls for.

Waiting for the High Speed Rail to move forward with a high price tag associated with it, has made it questionable if and when it will ever happen. “But now it’s time to get Amtrak service up to speed” claims Mr. Holscher.

Union Pacific does allow Amtrak trains on its Coastal route from LA to Portland but has received plenty of bad press for delayed passenger trains that have to wait long periods of time for freight trains to pass. By law Amtrak is supposed to get priority over freight trains. But late performance has been a problem with many Amtrak trains on different UP lines.

“The refusal of Union Pacific to invest in Coast or Valley capacity to run more passenger service between northern and southern California is one of the key factors holding up growth of the California economy,” suggests Train Riders Association of California in their most recent newsletter and goes on to point to the ways to get around this “monopolistic blockade” 1) begin acquiring right of way and building an alternate route, 2) review the tax status of railroads that refuse to be common carriers and block passenger traffic, or 3) create a California terminal railroad authority to control key trackage leading to ports.

It appears unlikely this type of hardball approach will be adopted locally although there is some hope now that the efforts here by Holscher and Conway might open the door for the first time. All Aboard!

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Tulare County - Tulare and Visalia city councils will meet in the next few months to discuss a possible light rail plan that would connect both towns. “We have completed a consultant study that offers three proposed routes that would end at each town’s transit center,” says Scott Cochran, Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) staffer.

TCAG came up with $50,000 for a feasibility study that included the alternate routes. Cochran says the report looks at a possible route down Mooney Blvd., from Highway 99 and swinging over to 198 and down the old Santa Fe rail alignment that runs between Tulare and Visalia.

The abandoned Santa Fe rail alternative “from a pure planning view” has a lot of merit says Cochran in that Tulare has already preserved the route and has converted it to a walking trail that heads north out of Tulare. Visalia in turn has recently acquired the same rail route through all of the city limits leaving but a few miles between the two cities in limbo.

Planners from Visalia have been looking at the possibility of building some “transit oriented developments” in the way of high density housing along the Santa Fe route including at the proposed SE Area Specific Plan project that runs from Santa Fe to Lovers Lane south of Caldwell.

Likewise in Downtown Visalia the city is planning high density housing just north of the city transit center at Oak Street where the light rail would arrive.

The consultant report suggests while the city might not want to plan to build the light rail any time soon, they could make some proactive moves that would make it likely it would be built eventually. That includes planning a light rail blueprint in each city’s general plan. Tulare’s general plan is being updated this winter.

Tulare has its own plan for dense residential units along Pine St. adjacent to the rail track where a new senior tower just opened. The city is looking to acquire property from the Utah company - American Trails (Tulare Valley Railroad) to plan more mixed use projects there that would tie into Downtown. This is the same company that the city of Visalia recently completed a deal with to buy the old SF alignment through town after a decade of negotiations.

20 to 30 Years Ahead

Now is the time the cities ought to get into a planning stage, believes Cochran. “I think we need to look 20 to 30 years ahead on this,” says vice mayor Greg Kirkpatrick of Visalia.

“Our best chance for funding will come if we can show we have the infrastructure in place,” says Cochran who believes this project could be a model for other valley communities looking for ways to ease congestion and clean the valley’s air.

One boost would be the passage of Measure R on the countywide ballot next month that earmarks $10 million for right of way acquisition for this project.

Cochran says the project has a price tag of $16 million a mile although there are sources of funding that would mean that not all fund would have to be generated locally.

“Other local towns are expressing interest in tying into this route,” says Cochran who is discussing this idea at this week’s TCAG meeting.

The idea came about a year ago, says Cochran, when city council member from Visalia, Phil Cox, brought the idea to TCAG. Now Cox sits on the Board of Supervisors as well as the TCAG board.

“There’s some indication that the county wants to meet on the idea along with both cities,” says Cochran, since the land in between both cities is county jurisdiction.

Planners endorse light rail not just because it gets people out of their cars but it can make possible dense transit oriented villages that could be built while maintaining surrounding lands in open space or ag.

Cochran says the other two routes would likely be more expensive in that Mooney Blvd. might require a monorail type set up like at Disneyland and the Highway 99 route would be longer.

Tulare intermodal transit center is nearing completion that could be the end point for the light rail as well as a possible commuter train being discussed along the Highway 99 (see other story).

Connecting the light rail to the commuter rail would mean people could commute from Downtown Visalia to Bakersfield or Fresno easily in the future. Cochran points out the rail lines could be connected to a key institution like a future 4-year college if and when we get one.

Cochran says his own feeling is that commercial rail on Highway 99 would help Tulare County’s effort to get the High Speed Rail to go up Highway 99 as well instead of the BNSF alignment on the west side of the valley.

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Visalia - A new City of Visalia report to the City Council says there are about 8400 unbuilt home lots in the city’s current 129,000 population Urban Development Boundary as of September 2006. That’s up just slightly from March when the city first did the study. That earlier study maintained the city might be able to fit more people within that 129,000 population boundary suggesting the same amount of land could hold over 52,000 more people than currently designated by adopting an “infill” strategy.

The city has had a long standing plan to open “growth rings’ of land on the outskirts of town as needed to accommodate additional population. But as a practical matter, just how much land to make available and how many units per acre should be encouraged has been the subject of debate.

Since hindsight is 2020, many observers agree the city allowed too much land to be developed for new homes given the current real estate slowdown nationwide. “It’s going to take years to work through this inventory,” says contractor Basil Perch.

The 8400 unbuilt lots cited in the report include final and tentatively approved subdivisions. But they don’t include 2 large projects that are recently approved - the Lowery Ranch and Southeast Area Specific Plan each with several thousand dwelling units planned.

Also, the City wants to add new high density dwelling units as “infill” that aren’t currently mapped. That includes the new East Visalia area where council is suggesting several thousand dwelling units could be built in coming years on old “service commercial” designated land.

On top of all this there is nearly 1000 acres within the city limits that is not mapped but is likely for future residential or mixed use - meaning there is likely another 4000 units in the shadows considering the current philosophy to build more homes per acre and even high rise.

In addition council is considering increasing the incentive to build more affordable housing in town by offering increased “density bonuses” that could add additional units to projects.

Swimming in Lots

What’s the upshot? Visalia is swimming in residential lots that builders and city planners expect to market when there are over 2000 homes listed for sale in the Tulare Visalia MLS - a sizable portion of them vacant. That doesn’t count the number of homes for rent - not on the market, that are also empty.

Of course you have to add the inventory of new homes that are being held for sale or under construction which are available, as anyone who has driven around town can see. Add to that the number of permits that have been issued this year so far - about 700 in Visalia - that builders are gearing up to begin construction on.

The current city report does not address the later issue but it does point out that developers appetite for new annexations around Visalia has cooled considerably. So far this year there is only one annexation pending of 20 acres compared to 12 annexations in 2004.

Whatever the final number of available units - existing, being built currently, planned or mapped for approval, it seems clear there will be a big inventory in Visalia for years to come and a glut that could even get worse because the city wants to build more units per acre within the city.

The question will be - where will the growth come from and will people buy these units?

Joint Meeting

This week the city council and planning commission considered the question and decided they need a whole meeting to tackle the thorny issue. Within the next few months a special joint meeting of the two bodies will look at a policy of how to deal with the available lands within the city limits over the next few years.

While Visalia’s population appears to be growing yearly based on California Department of Finance estimates and Census reports, some of the estimates are based on building permit activity. But the glut of empty homes won’t give a clear picture of what is happening here since many are “investor” homes.

Council member Greg Collins says the empty homes he sees around town make him scratch his head. “ I wonder if we are really losing population” he says citing all the people who have moved away in recent months in neighborhoods he is familiar with.

When you add it up, we have about 38,000 dwelling units in town with the addition of an average of 800 to 1000 new ones a year. But likely 3 thousand of those are now unoccupied between existing homes for sale and rentals and homes in the hands of builders. The US Census report for 2005 says the town had about 1400 vacant homes and it’s clearly worse now. The US average of vacant to occupied homes is 10 percent - not three percent as listed for Visalia. Maybe Visalia’s economy is reflecting a decline in demand for homes seen elsewhere?

If there is an inventory beyond those of planned or permitted homesites of 12,000 to 15,000 - we’re looking at a decade or longer worth of inventory to work through. How fast we do that will depend on job growth here and despite reports of low unemployment, it’s no ball of fire right now.

If the original idea of slowing land annexations in town was to “save farmland” the end result may be to try to boost property values in town by selling off the huge inventory of homes and homesites that have lost considerable value in the past half year by widespread accounts. In the last issue of the Valley Voice McMillin home developer Joe Leal pegged the decline in average values here at $30,000 to $50,000 in the most recent downturn. Of course the downturn isn’t just happening in Visalia, it’s statewide and nationwide. But land use policy clearly has an effect on home values - something that every home owner in Visalia already knows.

What Price Drop?

One guy who isn’t buying the idea that Visalia real estate prices are on the downturn is realtor Bill Jordan who says in general “news media reports of a real estate price drop aren’t accurate.” While there has been a decline in the number of homes sold in the Visalia MLS year to year by about 30 percent the average residential sold price was $289,000 as of July 1 down only slightly from a year ago when it was just under $300,000. A separate report by Data Quick shows little change in sales price year to year at about $278,000. What has gone up says Jordan according to his numbers, is inventory of homes for sale up from just 600 listings in July 2005 to 1730 in July 2006. Mr. Jordan says he hopes sellers expectations have had to come down from two years ago on homes that could have sold for half a million now having to take a $100,000 price cut to sell. To that degree he says he has seen a price drop.

As to the idea there is too many rental homes on the Visalia marketplace Jordan says he believes the market is in pretty good balance and that rents have risen in the past couple of years by about $200 to $1100 a month for a typical 3 bedroom home here. “There’s no trouble renting homes.”

MLS figures show an average home in Visalia sold for under $100,000 from 2000 to 2003 when it began a steady rise to as high as $325,000 early this year and just a moderate decline to the $289,000 figure we see as of September 2006. Mr. Jordan’s main point - Visalia real estate prices aren’t collapsing by any means.

Some believe the reason home owners here and real estate agents alike may sense a glut of competition forcing prices down is the fact that the number of national builders have continued to build even though demand has eased and widespread incentives are being offered to reduce their inventory. Nationwide the National Association of Home Builders said this week that 77 percent of home builders were offering some sort of sales incentive currently with inventory at all time highs. Even with a $50,000 price cut suggested in the last issue of the Valley Voice by homebuilders the run up in prices in the past few years still allows for profits for homebuilders if the land was purchased at the right time, says industry sources. (See last issue of the Valley Voice).

Council member Greg Kirkpatrick says he hopes builders will voluntarily “turn in” the old subdivision maps, perhaps offering an incentive to do so, to redraw them at a higher density and design that will fit new “smart growth” philosophy. He says while it may seem strange that builders continue to pull permits considering the atmosphere, “it shows that even at lower prices they seem to think they can make money.” Kirkpatrick says he isn’t surprised there is a 15 to 20 percent correction in the market considering the 100 percent runup in prices here in the past few years. He says the city council has no choice but to pursue high density around town even if it means more lots.

Office/Retail Impact

If there is a glut of homesites in town some worry that there will also be a glut of office and retail space in the near future. In the office category the pending move by Centex to the Cigna building opens up a large chunk of the Central Park office complex on Walnut and there is a half a dozen new offices seeking tenants and several large office projects on the drawing board including in East Visalia. On the retail front the developers of the North Park Promenade - Donahue Schriber - are planning a new Packwood Creek size shopping center at Riggin and Dinuba Highway - just under a half a million square feet with the desire to go bigger than their original 40 acres. The center will be anchored by two stores already in town who seek duplicate stores on the other side of town and will likely mean the same pattern for most of the smaller stores. The center will generate a handful of more restaurants to a town already awash in restaurant choices - creating a giant headache for the existing restaurants - many locally owned who will face even more competition now. A new Lowes anchored center is being built nearby as well.