The growth might not be there yet, but Lathrop will be prepared when companies come calling.
Last week the Lathrop City Council voted unanimously to subdivide 270 acres in what is being called the South Lathrop Specific Plan that will prepare a portion of the community for eight industrial parcels ranging in size from 9 acres to 50 acres and an 8-acre commercial parcel.
The parcel– located in the southeast corner of the community between the Highway 120 Bypass and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks – is being dubbed the South Lathrop Commerce center and will serve expanding light industrial businesses that appreciate Lathrop’s location in regards to multiple arterial California freeways and the nearby San Francisco Bay Area.
Lathrop is positioning itself as a suitable expansion point for Silicon Valley and Bay Area businesses that are rapidly outgrowing their existing facilities and running out of options for expansion within their localized area – evidenced by Tesla’s decision to take over an abandoned Mopar Distribution Center. The move expanded their foothold beyond the old New United Motors plant in Fremont – a defunct cooperative between Toyota and General Motors – and gave them a facility that is partway between Silicon Valley and Reno, where they are building a battery manufacturing plant that will be the largest of its kind in the Western United States.
In a previous council meeting, Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore said that just as Lathrop has become the affordable housing option for Bay Area residents looking to expand their square footage, the same can be said for corporations that are facing the same high land prices that are squeezing families out of what has become on the hottest housing markets in the United States.
An annexation application for the property has already been submitted to LAFCo for consideration. The entire specific plan area measures 315 acres, so the request to move forward with the subdivision will be for 85 percent of the total area planned for development.
Road access to the parcels will be provided by a yet-to-be-built unnamed road that will connect with Guthmiller road. An emergency vehicle access road is also planned, and improvements like curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street lights and landscaping are mandatory as per Lathrop’s development agreement.