Today there is an almond orchard and not much more on the northeast quadrant of the Highway 120 Bypass and Highway 99 interchange where upwards of 187,000 vehicles pass a day.

The next big crop, though, won’t be almonds.

AKF Development is taking advantage of a lull in the market to move forward with the 217-acre project dubbed “Yosemite Square.” It will consist of five multi-story office buildings with 314,000 square feet, 414 condos plus 312 apartments, 158,200 square feet of retail, 335 single family homes, and 28 estate-style lots.

The final work needed to put the project out for an environmental review is being finished up this month at Manteca City Hall.

The project has the promise of generating up to 3,000 jobs.

“It is an extremely high profile location,” said AKF partner Bill Filios.

Not only does it have full exposure to Highway 99 traffic, but it also has the heavily traveled merge lanes heading north from the 120 Bypass to east Highway 120. Ultimately, when Highway 120 is extended east to bypass Yosemite Avenue, the project will have exposure on that freeway segment as well.

Filios believes the location and project makes it ideal for health and government-related office uses.

Yosemite Square would front Highway 99 from the 120 Bypass to El Rancho Mobile Home Park along Highway 99 as well as run up against Austin Road to the east. The northeast part of the project touches the intersection of East Highway 120 (Yosemite Avenue) and Austin Road where the retail is being planned.

Infrastructure such as sewer and water lines are easily extended into the site. The city already has the four-lane Vasconcellos Avenue road extension south of East Yosemite Avenue in place. It currently dead-ends next to Manteca RV and Trailer.

AKF Development is also taking the lead in development of the 1,080-acre Austin Road Business Park less than a mile to the south.  

That project is also in the environmental assessment stage. Filios said the partnership plans to move forward with large distribution first at Austin Road Business Park similar to what AKF developed in Spreckels Park.

Austin Road Business Park - the largest development ever envisioned for Manteca - includes:

•3.5 million square feet of general commercial or about 26 times the square footage of the Manteca Costco store.

•At least 2,358 traditional single family homes and 1,840 multi-family dwelling units such as townhouses, apartments, and condos  that can accommodate up to 10,200 people or just under a seventh of the city’s existing population.

•8 million square feet of industrial/business park, and office use or space equal to 17 times the coverage area of the Ford Motor Parts distribution center on Spreckels Avenue,

•A 5,000-seat amphitheater plus Manteca Convention & Visitors Bureau events center.

•The potential to create up to 13,000 jobs - or close to 50 percent of the existing jobs in the city - with between 3,000 and 6,000 jobs coming from the industrial and business park portion and up to 13,000 jobs from possible retail uses.

•Five parks with just over 49 acres compared to the nearby 52-acre Woodard Community Park.

•A new $150 million Austin Road/McKinley on Highway 99 located south of the existing Austin Road interchange on Highway 99.

•The potential for school-age children who will live in homes that are within the Manteca city limits to attend school at Ripon Unified School District campuses. Some 849 acres of the project are in the boundaries of the Ripon Unified School District while 202 acres are within Manteca Unified School District boundaries.

•Eighty-four acres that are zoned for mixed commercial and retail uses which means it could involve condos above stores or large condo, apartment, or townhouse projects interwoven with commercial uses.

•Zoning for up to 1,840 units of apartments or other high residential uses including 828 units possible in the mixed commercial zoning depending on how that ends up panning put. That’s about 1,600 less than all existing apartments now in place in Manteca.