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Space available: Retail signs pop up as housing slows
| Sunday, Jul 6 2008 12:00 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jul 3 2008 6:20 PM
You’ve seen the signs.
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Panama Grove is supposed to be a retail center at Panama Lane and Gosford Road, but nothing is going on there.
Nothing is happening at the proposed Panama Grove retail center on Panama Lane and Gosford Road.
At Panama Lane and Stine Road, Bella Vista is a row of finished store fronts without tenants.
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Shop space available. For lease. Coming soon!
So far, Bakersfield’s retail market is holding steady, local real estate pros say.
But the housing downturn could put the kibosh on planned shopping centers not yet built, some believe.
“Without the rooftops, we’re overloaded with retail,” said Craig Hummel, a broker who handles commercial listings with Keller Williams Realty in Bakersfield, of some planned projects in the far southwest where large residential projects are dead or on hold.
Commercial development typically lags residential by 12 to 18 months, Hummel said. That’s why new shopping centers are springing up here despite dreary housing news.
A recent Keller Williams survey counted 39 to 42 new retail centers going up around Bakersfield — “an awesome figure,” Hummel called it — most of them finished or nearly so.
While he wondered where the tenants are going to come from, Hummel said so far the spaces are finding lessees.
“I’m amazed that a lot of them are filling up,” he said.
On Tuesday, a drive west along Panama Lane from Highway 99 past Old River Road turned up nine sites advertising retail and commercial space.
Prospects became roomier heading west, culminating in signs fronting large, vacant lots. Panama’s west end is closer to residential projects such as McAllister Ranch, Flying Seven Ranch and Gateway that have faltered or failed, taking tens of thousands of future rooftops with them.
Here are some details of Tuesday’s tour, arranged by signs heading east to west:
1. Highway 99 offramp, north side of Panama
What: A small, empty commercial lot behind the A&W/KFC drive-through, said JJ Woods, a sales agent with Olivieri Commercial Group, which is listing the property.
2. Wible Road, northwest intersection
What: A 1,200-square-foot space in the Ridgeview Plaza shopping center anchored by Albertsons, listed by Grubb & Ellis ASU & Associates.
3. Wible, southwest intersection
What: Bakersfield Crossings
Details: Numerous spots in the nearly 38,000-square-foot new shopping center. Plans for about 42,000 square feet of medical and office space in the back are on hold for now.
Fred Wilkerson, sales agent for CB Richard Ellis, is handling the office portion.
“The buyer did not complete escrow,” he said of a near-deal that recently fell through.
The company’s retail team handles the center’s front portion, which Wilkerson said is doing well. Current tenants include Carl’s Jr., T-Mobile, Wells Fargo, AutoZone and Sertino’s Cafe.
“Retail is booming out there, as far as I know,” he said.
4. Akers Road, northeast corner
What: Panama Lane Plaza
Details: The new 9,000-square-foot retail development is mostly finished. Anytime Fitness is setting up shop as is Metrocom Cellular, said Woods of Olivieri. Three of the center’s seven spots are available.
5. Stine Road, northeast of the intersection
What: Bella Vista, a recently completed retail center with a working fountain and palm trees. Signs on site don’t indicate the center has any tenants yet. Developer David Wilson of Wilson Investments did not return messages left Wednesday and Thursday.
6. Stine Road, southeast corner
What: The Palms, a 58,000-square-foot shopping center, currently has about 8,000 square feet available, said Woods of Olivieri.
7. Gosford Road, southwest corner
What: Panama Grove
Details: It’s a big lot with tumbleweeds gathered in the middle, yes. But it’s also the future site of a 580,000-square-foot center something like the Northwest Promenade, said Vince Roche, a broker with CB Richard Ellis, the listing agency.
The project has all needed entitlements, Roche said, adding he has been actively talking to prospective tenants.
“There’s a lot of interest in that intersection,” he said. “Timing will be dependent upon the housing market.”
8. West of Progress Road, south side of Panama
What: A sign for Derrel’s Mini Storage pokes above weeds just off the roadway, promising 1,200 units.
Details: The Fresno-based company has all the property entitlements in place, said Shannon Garcia, and is ready to go ahead when demand picks up again.
“Like some of the other builders, we are in a wait and see mode,” she said.
9. Old River Road, northwest corner
What: Another large empty lot with a big sign, this one announcing retail and mixed use coming soon.
Details: Scott Underhill, broker with Grubb & Ellis ASU & Associates, was on vacation as of Wednesday afternoon, an office worker said.
A brochure on the agency’s Web site shows the shopping center will total more than 250,000 square feet, including a four-story multi-family residential complex totaling 140,000 square feet.
While signs weren’t posted on Panama, Underhill’s listings also include a shopping center at the southwest corner of Panama and Ashe where WinCo is planned to anchor the project and a proposed 180,000-square-foot shopping center at the northeast corner of Panama and Buena Vista Road, online brochures show.