TULARE COUNTY – The design firm 4Creeks has helped many organizations build for future expansions in the last 15 years. Now they are putting their resources into doubling the size of their own downtown expansion.
The company, founded in 2008, filed preliminary plans with the city of Visalia this week to build a new three-story, 12,000-square-foot building adjacent to their current warehouse offices on Santa Fe. The plans retain its existing office but call for demolishing a 2,000 square foot warehouse next to it. In its place they would erect a three-story office that includes an outdoor patio. The new development would bring the company’s office space to a combined 24,000 square feet.
4Creeks has six locations overall including Tulare, Hanford, Clovis, Denver, San Luis Obispo and Visalia. Records show the firm has about 35 full-time employees and the CEO is Danielle Avila.
4Creeks takes its name from its founding in Visalia, where four creeks run through the city, which made it an ideal place for settlement. The company is a collection of engineers, surveyors, construction managers, developers, designers, architects, programmers and business leaders.
Besides their work on public and private developments, the company has a strong agribusiness development component working with ag firms, water districts, agencies, dairies and farmers on water and energy projects.
Tulare to demolish old library
The warehouse next to 4Creeks isn’t the only thing being demolished. The Tulare City Council has authorized the demolition of the vacant old public library on F Street. In 1963, the City built a public library at 113 North F Street, the site once occupied by Central School. This was the home of the Tulare Public Library for 47 years. In July 2010, the library moved to its current location at 475 North M Street.
The old library building has been vacant for the past 13 years, adding expenses to the city with the electric, alarm, landscaping and water services. Staff is recommending the demolition of the building not only because of recurring expenses, but because the building is continuously vandalized presenting a safety concern for the area.
Visalia sales tax revenue on track
Visalia Finance Director Renee Nagel said preliminary results for the last fiscal year ending in July show that Visalia sales tax revenue is about on target at just under 2% growth when compared to the year before. That was what the department forecasted after two strong growth years surprised the city during the pandemic.
Nagel has noted that in 2021 sales tax income grew by 12% and was projected to be the same in 2022. The higher-than-normal growth has also inflated the sales tax base used to prepare projections for the 23/24 budget in place now, which is why Nagel’s department continued budgeting based on historic growth averages. Growth in receipts, based on a budget that did not count on that money, was key in boosting the City’s General Fund and enabling the City of Visalia to move forward on big capital projects like the new Civic Center being built mostly on a cash basis.
