Manteca’s pent-up apartment demand may get some relief in 2017.
Developer Mike Atherton indicated Monday funding has been secured to build 157 units on the northeast corner of Atherton Drive and Van Ryn Drive along the 120 Bypass.
Atherton said he is also working on moving another apartment project forward with some 400 units plus possibly two restaurants and a bar along with commercial on land immediately east of Bass Pro Shops.
The 157 units are currently in plan check review with the City of Manteca.
They are targeted for land that originally in 2004 was part of the envisioned 300-unit Tesoro Apartments complex.
Part of the land was sold for development in 2011 of the subsidized workforce housing apartment complex known as Juniper Apartments. The complex has 153 units that were built in part with Manteca redevelopment agency funds and tax free bonds. Such projects — subsidized indirectly with financing and not upfront help to pay rent — requires tenants to still qualify based on a steady income source. The rents are not at market but are set at a percentage below market to make them affordable to the income median of community’s workforce.
The Atherton units moving forward will be at-market. They will be located immediately south of the 293-unit Paseo Villas complex. When completed, there will be 600 apartments in the area.
Atherton was among those who advocated general plan zoning that created high density housing along the 120 Bypass as a buffer between the freeway and single family housing on the south side of Atherton Drive.
Should the other apartment project move forward east of the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley it will represent a first in Manteca as it will put high density housing near restaurants, a move theater, a major health club that is opening next year, and shopping.
AKF Development built the last at-market apartments in Manteca 12 years ago at Paseo Villas.
There are other plans for more apartments in Manteca including behind the Walgreen’s anchored shopping center on the northeast corner of Lathrop Road and Union Road, the future western extension of Center Street and near McKinley Avenue and Woodward Avenue.
Atherton said the biggest stumbling block for building apartments is securing financing.
While he declined to indicate how much the 157 apartments will cost, state studies show it can easily cost between $10 million and $20 million to build 100 apartment units in many areas of the Central Valley when you include the land and growth fees.
Property managers indicated that while the new apartments may not be affordable per se, building additional units could take some of the pressure off overall rent increases.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com