Hoping to take advantage of the fact that large parcel sites are scarce on the West Coast, Zauher says sites as large as 95 acres will be available for sale, with zoning ranging from general and light industrial to office and technology. Additionally, he says there will be numerous incentives for companies seeking West Coast locations including Enterprise Zone state tax credits and low-cost municipal electric utility rates that are as much as 40% lower than other parts of the state.

The project, which has been in the works for years, is moving forward now because the City of Redding last week signed off on the environmental reports. By having completed a Master Environmental Document, Zauher says Stillwater will be one of the few, if not the only, large-site complex that is truly shovel-ready.

"One of the key elements behind this project is that in California, if you're looking for anywhere from 10 to 100 acres, it's really difficult to find," Zauher says. "The whole thrust of this is to attract major distribution or manufacturing or back office users; we've lost those kinds of projects in the past because we didn't have shovel-ready sites, which is why we decided to put it a real strong effort into this."