North Bay Business Journal

Site preparation is set to begin in May for large shopping center and distribution warehouse projects in Petaluma and Fairfield: 346,000-square-foot Deer Creek Village and 791,000-square-foot Solano Logistics Center. …

Richard Coney, senior property manager in the Santa Rosa office of Keegan & Coppin, and Justin Barton, a property manager in the brokerage’s Larkspur office, earned the Certified Property Manager designation. …

SANTA ROSA — After more than six years of planning, the larger new home of Redwood Empire Food Bank is set to open Tuesday.

Industrial real estate of Solano and Napa counties showed significant improvement in 2012 over 2011, as several significant leases were completed and some significant buildings sold. The overall industrial vacancy rate in Napa and Solano counties dropped for the seventh consecutive quarter at the end of 2012.

With the economy continuing to show signs of improvement, we expect continued demand and activity in 2013.

NAPA — The developer of a 107,000-square-foot warehouse near Napa County Airport finished last year and leased to wine-related tenants is back with a like-sized project in the same industrial area.

PETALUMA — Novato-based genetic research components maker Biosearch Technologies Inc. needed to double the size of its headquarters and labs to accommodate growth over the next decade, and they found the perfect fit in a mostly vacant 120,000-square-foot former high-tech manufacturing plant in south Petaluma that could be retrofitted quickly and relatively inexpensively.

WINDSOR — Wine Country Shipping plans to more than double the size of its Windsor facilities next year to satisfy vintner demand for casegoods storage.

NAPA — The oldest operating chocolate producer in Napa Valley plans to greatly increase its capacity to make wholesale confections by opening a second local factory.

DIXON — Altec Industries, Inc., an Alabama-based leading international equipment and service provider for electric utility, telecommunications and contractor markets — including government and military — has broken ground for a new 42,000-square-foot manufacturing plant adjacent to its existing West Coast service center at 1450 North First St. in Dixon.

NAPA — Construction is set to start this month on a 107,400-square-foot multi-tenant warehouse in a business park near Napa County Airport.

E&P Properties Inc., led by Dennis Paulley, owner of Benicia-based Metropolitan Van & Storage, is building the warehouse at the corner of Airport Boulevard and Airpark Road, near the south Napa intersection of Highway 12, leading to Interstate 80, and Highway 29, heading to American Canyon and Vallejo.

SANTA ROSA — G&C AutoBody is on track to a have a 50 percent increase in revenue this year to $30 million with the opening of three new shops along the Highway 101 corridor.

NAPA — Kaiser Permanente will soon undertake a $30 million renovation and expansion of its data center, adding 54,000 square feet to the remote building in Napa Valley Corporate Park.

PETALUMA — Lagunitas Brewing Co. is rushing a $9.5 million expansion just two years after a major production upgrade to keep up with what the company founder describes as a surge in demand.

PETALUMA — Perhaps the most complex building project of the year in the North Bay took place in Petaluma, where Devcon Construction turned a 185,000-square-foot shell into a plastic injection molding manufacturing facility for Thermo Fisher.

SEBASTOPOL – A west Sonoma County city with a heritage of apple processing, natural living and artistry could have a dilapidated former apple plant near downtown transformed into a center for artisans and farmers to sell the fruits of their labor.

NORTH BAY – Frank-Lin, the family-owned bottling company with 160 employees, 2,000 brands and currently located in San Jose, lost rail access and needed to move.

SOLANO – Solano County has a flurry of construction projects under way.

AMERICAN CANYON — The 650,000-square-foot Kendall Jackson Family Wines Distribution Center earned LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it one of the largest LEED projects in the state.

With steel racking 11 stories tall and weighing 11 million pounds, the automated warehouse Vallejo-based Meyer Corp. U.S. is completing at its Fairfield distribution facilities is one of the tallest buildings in Solano County.

Editor’s note: The Business Journal features profiles of North Bay construction projects that are complete or nearly so. Send details to jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax to 707-521-5292. San Rafael Corporate Center 770 and 790 Lindaro St., San Rafael; parking: 775 Lindaro Owner: SR Corporate Center Phase Two LLC, a joint venture between Seagate Properties Inc. of [...]

When is a warehouse more than just a typical warehouse? When it comes with classic mission-style architectural features that make it look like a better fit for an upscale office complex or business park.