Speculative development is still going strong in Kern's industrial real estate market with a pair of "tilt-up" 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 at a project going up northwest of Merle Haggard Drive and Highway 65 in an area thought to be 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 soon as December, the development highlights the strength of Kern's industrial market at a time when "spec development" has, at least temporarily, fallen out of favor because rising interest rates make such investments pricier and riskier.
The work — an example of tilt-up concrete construction — follows other recent spec projects in the county, most of them in Kern's low-vacancy industrial market, but others have begun recently in multifamily residential. At least one such office property has been proposed.
Senior Vice President Oscar Baltazar at Colliers Tingey International called Reyneveld's a "good project."
"The landlord of that building, he's very up to speed on what the market is calling for, and he builds really good product," Baltazar said. "He doesn't cut corners."
A project representative at Cushman & Wakefield, broker Wayne Kress, said by email the two buildings combine for 66,936 square feet at 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. The project's marketing materials show Sunrun will occupy 26,590 square feet at the site.
Sunrun operates at 2501 Union Ave., near Highway 178. It did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Reyneveld, owner of Bakersfield's Willy Reyneveld Construction Inc., also did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday.
Sunrun will share the building with InfuSystem, a Michigan-based company that sells and leases infusion pumps to hospitals, oncology practices and other health care 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 at the building.
The second building, at 19879 Wishon Drive, measures 19,040 square feet. Marketing materials indicate the building may be divided in two and shared by separate tenants.
Kress said by email the smaller building has "received good interest" form potential tenants.
