We’re still waiting for the imaginary ‘Industrial Hub’ to land at Castle

Drive through Castle Airport and you’ll see weeds growing and gophers multiplying, but you won’t see the “Industrial Hub of Central California.” Our county supervisors signed a worthless agreement with the Port of Los Angeles, giving money to Gold Dust Partners in expectation of a foreign investor with $2 billion.

Castle has looked like a ghost town for 23 years. But Mather Airport and McClellan Park are former air bases now providing thousands of jobs with 95 percent occupancy. Mather and McClellan talked to small investors and either sold or rented one building at a time. Merced Commerce Center would rather leave buildings vacant than lease or sell them to small investors. I know because twice I have inquired about buildings over the years and was told they weren’t available. Today, those buildings are both still vacant.

The Commerce Center crew likes to visit and drink coffee; they don’t want to be bothered by small business or individual renters, preferring to wait for an imaginary giant investor.

The $2 billion manufacturing hub with 9,000 jobs is not going to happen. Get real and turn 1,700 vacant barracks bunks into 800 apartments before those buildings further deteriorate.

This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 3:43 PM with the headline "We’re still waiting for the imaginary ‘Industrial Hub’ to land at Castle."