The largest warehouse building in the Manteca-Lathrop area is expected to be completed and operational within six months. 

The city’s first light industrial footprint in excess of 1 million square feet, which will house a Northern California distribution center for online furniture giant Wayfair, is currently under construction as the first of 10 buildings that will comprise the South Lathrop Commerce Center – a massive, roughly 5 million square foot light industrial development south of the Highway 120 Bypass, east of Interstate 5 and north of the San Joaquin River. 

According to Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore, the floor for the massive building is nearly complete. Developers hope to have the building completed within six months so interior improvements and upgrades can be made by the tenant. 

The Wayfair building is the first of three large buildings in excess of 1 million square feet that will be constructed as part of the South Lathrop Commerce Center. 

Headquartered in Boston with offices and warehouses throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the company is exclusively an e-commerce retailer that carries more than 10 million items on its website from more than 10,000 vendors. The company plans on opening its first storefront location, in Florence, Kentucky, later this year. 

It will be the second furniture warehouse that will open in Lathrop within an 18-month period after Ashley Furniture opened in the Crossroad Business Park last year with both a warehouse and retail location. 

Once completed, the Wayfair building will be the largest in both Manteca and Lathrop until other developments – including two buildings as part of the CenterPoint development that are planned for 1.2 million square feet – are completed.  

And the South Lathrop Commerce Center isn’t the only development that will boast a massive new building for a tenant that has already agreed to occupy it. 

Behind the former Pilkington glass plant workers are putting the finishing touches on an 870,000 square foot building that will be occupied by Tesla – their second facility in Lathrop after taking over the vacant Mopar Distribution Center inside of the Crossroads Business Park. The new building is shielded from traffic along Louise Avenue, and is visible only in the distance from McKinley Avenue. According to the city’s planning documents, no details about what the building will be used for were disclosed by the company. 

The property that the new Tesla building sits on is currently owned by developer Buzz Oates, who purchased it from Reynolds and Brown – the company that purchased the Pilkington facility after it closed due to the excessive costs involved with bringing the facility up to modern environmental standards. 

Tesla had previously contracted with the property owners to use vacant outdoor space on the property as a staging area for vehicles that were completed at their Fremont plant – holding them by the thousands in Lathrop until they were shipped off to showrooms and customers across the country. 

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.