Speculative development continues in Kern’s industrial real estate market with a pair of “tilting” warehouses under construction east of Highway 99 not far from Meadows Field Airport.
Local developer Willy Reyneveld has lined up two of what will eventually be three or four tenants in a project that rises northwest of Merle Haggard Drive and Highway 65 in an area deemed more attractive since e-commerce giant Amazon began work in 2018 on a large distribution center a short distance to the east.
Scheduled to be ready for tenant improvements as early as December, the development highlights the strength of Kern’s industrial market at a time when “specific development” has, at least temporarily, fallen out of favor as rising interest rates make these more expensive and riskier investments.
The work – an example of tilting concrete construction – follows other recent spec projects in the county, most in the low vacancy industrial market of Kern, but others have started recently in residences multifamily. At least one such office building has been proposed.
Senior Vice President Oscar Baltazar of Colliers Tingey International called Reyneveld a “good project”.
“The owner of this building, he’s very aware of what the market is asking for, and he’s building a very good product,” Baltazar said. “He doesn’t cut corners.”
A project representative at Cushman & Wakefield, broker Wayne Kress, said via email that the two buildings combine for 66,936 square feet on the southwest corner of McMurtrey and Wishon drives.
About half of the larger of the two buildings, at 19479 Wishon Drive, has been pre-leased to Sunrun, a San Francisco-based provider of residential solar power and battery storage systems. Marketing materials for the project show Sunrun will occupy 26,590 square feet on the site.
Sunrun operates at 2501 Union Ave., off Highway 178. It did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Reyneveld, owner of Willy Reyneveld Construction Inc. of Bakersfield, also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Sunrun will share the building with InfuSystem, a Michigan-based company that sells and rents infusion pumps to hospitals, oncology practices and other healthcare providers. InfuSystem, which operates locally at 3616 Coffee Road, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Marketing materials show the company will occupy 21,306 square feet in the building.
The second building, at 19879 Wishon Drive, is 19,040 square feet. Marketing materials say the building can be split in two and shared by separate tenants.
Kress said via email that the smaller building has “received good interest” from potential tenants.
