Get ready for more housing in one of the last places you’d expect in Manteca — North Main Street.
A development firm is proposing building 158 single family homes on 30.17 acres on the east side of North Main Street directly across from Kia Country and Casino Real. The site is bordered on the north and south by storage firms and on the east by Highway 99 and the Springtime Estates neighborhood where the stubbed street of Aksland Drive could potentially tie into the new subdivision.
Dubbed the North Main Commons, it would require a rezone to allow residential development.  The 30-day period for public comment on a proposed negative declaration and initial study will end April 2.
Over the years the Rossi family tried to find retail ventures to develop the property. At one point they envisioned a medical office and health complex but there were no takers.
With the advent of the new interchange at Lathrop Road with commercial land zoning and the fact the bulk of Manteca’s growth is occurring along the 120 Bypass that has substantial commercially zoned land with freeway exposure and access, the prospects for a large scale commercial or office venture on the site that would be accessed from the traffic signal at Northgate Drive and Main Street are not highly likely.
It is part of an emerging trend that is seeing infill and redevelopment projects starting to change the face of central and north Manteca east of North Main Street.
uDemolition work has started to clear the way for the 43-unit gated townhouse project in the 600 and 700 blocks of North Grant Avenue and Lincoln Avenue that represents an investment of $17 million.
uGrading and utility work is underway for the 492-home Shadowbrook neighborhood north of Louise Avenue, south of Southland Road and east of Highway 99.
The three projects with almost 700 housing units have the potential to generate 210 elementary students likely to have an impact on Golden West, Shasta, Neil Hafley and Joshua Cowell schools. Given how Manteca Unified is positioning Manteca High to handle the initial wave of growth from south of the 120 Bypass, it is likely high school students generated from the homes would attend East Union High.
At some point in the near future, Manteca Unified expects to adjust school attendance boundaries to deal with growth.
Shadowbrook is being built on 122 acres by Trumark Homes that hopes to start constructing homes at mid-year.
The biggest day-to-day impact Shadowbrook will likely have on Manteca is the requirement that it build the city’s first roundabout on a major four-lane street.
The developer is required to invest $1 million in a roundabout at Felice Way and Louise Avenue to avoid the need for traffic signals and to keep Louise Avenue traffic flow at an optimum level.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com