A start-up manufacturer that broke ground in Anderson with much fanfare nearly four years ago has finally launched production — but in a different, temporary location.
US-Offsite, a building company co-founded by Dan Ferreira, opened its production plant last fall on Meadow View Drive east of Airport Road in south Redding.
Currently, the plant has 30 employees, but there are plans to add more workers to meet demand for its product, Chief Financial Officer Alex Shea recently told me.
“It feels great. I think the part that’s fun is watching the guys thrive,” CEO Ferreira said one recent weekday as his employees were framing modules for a transitional housing project for a prison in San Benito. “Even though it’s smaller than the final version, it has the qualities, so that gets me pumped.”
The final version will be a 200,000-square-foot plant on Industry Road just east of Barney Road in Anderson. The goal is to employ 250 workers on the production line and 50 in the company’s office.
Shea said they hope to start construction this fall. "If we hit our milestones, we plan on having the doors open next fall, 2025," he said.
When Ferreira announced in spring 2020 that they had picked Anderson to build their first production plant, it was a big deal for a community that is still reeling from the loss of Shasta Paper Co., which employed 400 people before closing nearly 25 years ago.
Jeff Kiser, then Anderson’s city manager, called it a historic economic development project for his community, “the biggest resurgence in the city of Anderson since the timber days.”
But after pouring the concrete foundation at the 33-acre site in Anderson, the project went silent, leaving some to wonder if it ever was going to happen.
Shea said coming out of the pandemic they realized that they wanted to take away some of the risk of building and opening a large plant, so they chose to lease the building on Meadow View and open a small-scale version of their grand vision.
“So, it was a business decision to stair up our way” to Anderson, said Shea, who ran for Redding City Council but lost in 2022.
Shea said he ran for council to help create jobs in the North State. Working at US-Offsite is a way to do that, he added.
US-Offsite makes prefabricated modules for multi-family and commercial projects, such as apartments, hotels, student housing, even disaster-relief housing for victims of wildfire or hurricanes.
The company currently is doing a lot of work for customers on the Central Coast in communities like San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, Ferreira said.
“So, we are able to introduce a whole new community to a new way of building,” Ferreira said.
But US-Offsite also is doing work for customers in the North State, a duplex project in Cottonwood and cabins in Dunsmuir.
The company calls it reverse engineering buildings into LEGO blocks, which are built at the plant and then shipped to the project site.
“So much of your construction challenge is the labor market you’re in, the availability to people, commuting people there. We take all that out. So now, if you’re a developer and you’re looking at downtown L.A. or you’re looking at out in the desert, we have a fixed build cost and a reliable fixed build cost,” Ferreira said.
Sizzle's Kitchen has a new owner
When Charity Abban-Saah and her husband, Kobina “Koby” Abban-Saah. found out that Karen Christensen wanted to sell her commercial kitchen in downtown Redding, they were interested.
The husband-and-wife team had been using Sizzle's Kitchen for about a year, making food for their West African restaurant Amazing Alheri. They sell their fare at the Saturday morning Redding Farmers Market and as a pop-up at Sizzle's on Saturday afternoons, making for a busy weekend for the business owners.
Charity calls the commercial kitchen on Placer Street a thriving community of foodies.
But Charity said they learned that some of the would-be buyers were interested in changing things up at Sizzle's Kitchen.
"We thought, 'Oh my god, nobody should change this community,'" Charity said.
So Charity and Koby bought the commercial kitchen. Their first day as the new owners was July 1.
Christensen on Facebook posted that the couple "have been delighting us with their bold and delicious African cuisine for the past two years."
In saying goodbye to her customers, Christensen added: "Creating and nurturing the enterprise has been a deeply rewarding experience, and we are confident that under Charity and (Koby's) leadership, the business will benefit from fresh energy and new ideas while continuing to honor our commitments to all the small businesses and valued clients of our kitchen."
She said the vision for Sizzle's Kitchen will remain intact under their ownership.
"It has been journey and learning experience. I was nervous and she (Christensen) provided the space," Charity said of their beginnings in the commercial kitchen.
New Clairvaux makes history
It was a historic victory for New Clairvaux Vineyard at this year's California State Fair wine competition.
The Vina winery won three of the six Golden Bear awards at the fair in Sacramento.
The three Golden Bears were for New Clairvaux's 2023 St. James Block Moschofilero, its 2023 Poor Souls Block Barbera Rose, and the Golden State Winery of the Year for producing "so many high scoring wines" New Clairvaux said in a news release.
The Golden Bear Awards ceremony is July 22 at Cal Expo.
In addition, New Clairvaux will celebrate its annual Blessing of the Grapes on July 27 at its St. James Vineyard on the Abbey of the winery's grounds in Vina in Tehama County.
New Clairvaux also has a tasting room in downtown Redding.
Go to newclairvauxvineyard.com for more information.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on X, formerly Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
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