Wells Fargo not just considering Tulare County-owned office building for planned move

Published on 03/31/2017 - 8:40 am

Written by David Castellon

Wells Fargo has submitted a bid to locate some of its operations in a Visalia office building owned by Tulare County.Wells Fargo has submitted a bid to locate some of its operations in a Visalia office building owned by Tulare County.

Tulare County supervisors will consider on Tuesday a bid by Wells Fargo Bank to lease a portion of a county-owned office building in Visalia, but even if they accept the bid, an agreement may not happen.

“The county building is kind of far from a done deal,” said Juan Lopez, a spokesman for Wells Fargo’s Pacific Coast region, adding that his company still is looking at other office space for lease in Visalia, despite bidding earlier this month to lease the 15,316 square feet of space in the Tulare Akers Professional Center, a three-story office building in Visalia’s west side.

“From what I understand, a letter of intent is not binding,” he said, adding that “It’s a very long way to go before we commit to signing a lease with the county.”

Last month, Tulare County officials began accepting bids for the space, which comprises less than 10 percent of the 180,679-square-foot building the county bought in 2016 for $16.97 million. The county has a plan to occupy a portion of it with county agencies, including the headquarters for the sheriff’s and fire departments, which will move in starting this summer.

Portions of the building already were occupied when the county bought it, with tenants that included the IRS and a call center for Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. They remain in the building and will continue to do so under lease agreements with the county.

Current plans are for the county to occupy more than 50,000 square feet of Akers Street building and to lease out most of the vacant space.

Lopez said Wells Fargo has been looking in the Visalia area for office space to relocate four or five divisions of local Wells Fargo staff, including the mortgage and business banking divisions, and the county building is one of the spaces under consideration.

The space chosen would not include a bank, he added.

“We are looking at other properties and negotiating with different landlords,” said Lopez, who declined to identify those other properties. “This will help our growth and expansion over the next several years.”

Country officials set the minimum bid for the vacant space in the southwest wing of the building at $1.65 per square foot monthly rent.

The tenant would have to pay an additional 60 cents per square foot to cover its portion of maintenance fees for common areas.

Wells Fargo submitted the only bid, at a lease rate of $1.85 per square foot, or $28,334 a month.

The building, is one of only two Class A office buildings -- the top grade for office space -- in all Tulare County.

The other one is on Visalia’s south end and also is a former insurance building that the county purchased and now occupies.

http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/news/real-estate/26397-wells-fargo-to-become-tulare-county-s-tenant-in-visalia-office-building