Barstow produce center construction under way

Barstow produce center construction under way Construction has begun to convert a 75-acre former Yellow Freight trucking center in Barstow to a new cold storage and transportation office facility.
   Los Angeles-based real estate development firm Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc. told the Barstow Desert Dispatch that the $2.4 million first phase of construction, expected to be finish this summer, will bring 85,000 square feet of cold-storage warehouse on line.
   The Barstow Produce Center currently provides 176,750 square feet of multitenant produce distribution space, 50 units of onsite work force housing, and a truck maintenance and refueling center.
   Two additional phases, set to finish within three years, will bring the total cold-storage space at the facility to 405,000 square feet.
   “Barstow is an optimal location because it’s really a land port,” company spokesperson Michael Bustamante told the Desert Dispatch. “It’s a gateway to emerging communities. The ability to ship from the Los Angeles port to Barstow and then out of California makes good sense. It allows for the freshest produce to be shipped.”
   When completed, the center will employ more than 100 workers.
   Located about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Barstow is a major regional transportation center. Several major highways, including interstates 15 and 40, converge in the city, and is the site of a large rail classification yard owned by the BNSF Railway.