PHOENIX - Sunstate Equipment topped the 50 mark in locations with its recent opening of a branch in Yucaipa, Calif. The facility, located strategically by a major interstate is close to the fast-growing San Bernardino-R iverside-Moreno Valley corridor in Southern California.

Sunstate president Mike Watts told RER that company plans to continue to do start-ups with the goal of between a dozen and two dozen annually. Watts said the company is more likely to increase concentration within a given metropolitan area rather than spread out too thin over too wide an area.

Sunstate, based here, is No. 13 on the RER 100, with an estimated $95 million in 1998 rental revenue.