How The Wonderful Logistics Center Is Transforming California's Central Valley

The U.S. industrial market is off to a strong start in 2026. 

Q1 saw the market post its best numbers in three years, with 40M SF of net absorption. But not all industrial spaces are created equal, and reports show tenants shifting their demand toward newer warehouse products that can support automation, artificial intelligence systems and higher power requirements.

The Wonderful Co., known for its many brands including Wonderful Pistachios, Halos and Pom Wonderful, has expanded into the commercial real estate world with its Wonderful Logistics Center to meet these modern industrial tenant demands. The 2,000-acre, fully entitled and master-planned logistics center, located in Shafter in California’s Central Valley, features more than 17M SF of space in operation today and has provided over 10,000 careers in energy, sustainability, logistics, transportation and more since its opening.

“The inspiration was to build something not just for the Wonderful Co., but to attract more businesses into the Central Valley, which ultimately provides more job opportunities for the community,” said Wonderful Real Estate Senior Vice President of Development and Operations Jason Gremillion. 

That focus on the community is very important to the company, he said, which operates charter schools in the area designed to help local students prepare for college or skilled trade education. 

“We’re focused on providing a better quality of living and educational opportunities to the entire Central Valley,” he said. 

The Wonderful Logistics Center features a 40K SF training facility that includes forklift labs, classrooms, manufacturing technology programs and workforce development opportunities. The curriculum is developed and taught in partnership with Bakersfield College and the Wonderful Co. to prepare a growing labor force in careers that benefit both tenants within the logistics center and the broader Kern County community.

The company also recently opened a container depot, drastically reducing “deadheading” of imports/exports and improving supply chain efficiency for tenants. According to Gremillion, the depot has significantly reduced drayage costs for both the company and its tenants. Wonderful is also building its inland rail terminal, which will provide international intermodal rail service to tenants at the center as well as businesses throughout the Central Valley.

The Wonderful Logistics Center is a two-hour drive to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and a four-hour drive to the Port of Oakland. Located in the geographic center of the state, the facility is able to serve the 11 Western states within a one- to two-day truck turn, he said. 

Beyond its logistics features, the campus also has an amenity center with a restaurant that offers a discount to tenants and an urgent care facility that is under construction. There also will soon be a retail store and fitness center. In total, the company has invested more than $70M in the training facility and amenity center that covers over 100K SF. 

“We’ve created an amenity-rich logistics center where tenants and their employees don’t have to travel miles away to access the things they need,” Gremillion said. 

Gremillion said he began his career in Southern California, where he saw that much of the housing and educational facilities were very close to industrial projects, creating extreme traffic conditions. Because Wonderful owns much of the agricultural land surrounding the logistics center, the company was able to master-plan the development and establish a one-mile buffer between the project and nearby neighborhoods to reduce traffic and industrial impacts.

“We built our transportation system so that it wouldn’t interfere with the community,” he said. “We wanted to provide jobs, support the families in this area and create an affordable, pleasant place to live.” 

The company is also focused on sustainability and clean air for the community. The Wonderful Co. owns Wonderful Power, which operates roughly 100 megawatts of solar and fuel cell energy in California. In the last three years, the company has started incorporating those clean energy concepts into its own buildings, Gremillion said, and it can also provide those solutions to its logistics tenants. 

Looking ahead, the company is actively expanding the Wonderful Logistics Center, he said. It is in the process of entitling an additional 1,300 acres to expand the campus, while still maintaining the buffer zone. The company is building its next 1M SF speculative development located at 2902 Express Ave. that will deliver in Q2 2027. It is also working on entitlements that include a residential component that will add much-needed housing to the growing city of Shafter. 

“Ultimately, we want residents of the valley to have a place where they can find abundant opportunity, work productively, raise their families and have the amenities they need to thrive,” Gremillion said. 

This article was produced in collaboration between Wonderful Real Estate and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.