Manteca would not be on the cusp of a commercial building boom along the Atherton Drive corridor if it weren’t for 4,100 linear feet of four lanes wide pavement.

The 4,100 feet in question was barren land between two dead-end segments of Atherton Drive — one at the intersection with Union Road and the other east of Airport Way.

The commercial boom is nearly 450,000 square feet that is approved to be built.

It includes a bowling alley/family entertainment center, two four-story hotels, a supermarket, a car dealership, five fast food places, in-line retail and restaurant space, an events center/banquet hall/wedding center, car wash, and a pair of convenience stores and gas stations.

Elected officials rejecting repeated roadblocks put up by previous municipal management that the city couldn’t afford to build what was known as the Atherton Drive Gap, made it possible for the gap to be completed in May 2019.

It proved Bill Filios right.

Filios is a developer that was part of a private sector team that converted a shuttered sugar beet processing plant into the Spreckels Park economic juggernaut and played key roles in landing Del Webb and Bass Pro Shops.

Filios spent a good part of the last decade working to convince the city that it couldn’t afford not to build the gap.

As the ribbon was being cut by then Mayor Ben Cantu opening the completed $4.4 million gap on May 23, 2019, Living Spaces already inked a deal to build a 130,000-square-foot showroom.

Filios’ argument for the gap being built was based on the realities of commercial development.

Even though the 120 Bypass corridor was seen as a prime location at the heart of a subregion with unparalleled growth potential, it needed to have infrastructure in place.

The reason is simple.

Retail, hotels, and restaurant concerns aren’t going to install basic backbone needs such as arterial streets plus sewer, water, and storm drain trunks.

Developers despite poplar belief rarely have the financial means to front all of the cost to get major infrastructure in place to access commercial/business parks that could take years to complete.

But if the city advanced the money from collected road fees or borrowed from other growth fee accounts and was reimbursed on pro-rated basis as commercial property developed, it becomes feasible with the city being made whole.

And that is exactly what is happening.

Each commercial project now moving forward will pay the city their pro-rated share of fees for the city’s gap investment when they are issues building permits.

It is exactly how the city turned a shuttered sugar beet processing plant into what is today a $300 million plus retail and business park hub by completing a gap on Spreckels Avenue developers couldn’t bankroll upfront

The same concept, but with outright city investment of redevelopment funds with no strings attached, made the original extension of Daniels Street possible.

It was put in place to access the 30-acre Big League Dreams sports complex.

At the same time it allowed the city to snag the Stadium Retail complex anchored by Kohl’s as well as Costco.

And the subsequent extension of Daniels Street to McKinley Avenue was a key part of landing the Great Wolf indoor water park.

That final gap on Daniels Street has also teed up the 100 or so acres the city owns for development in the family entertainment zone.

Then Councilwoman Debby Moorhead led the charge for years to get the Atherton Drive gap built.

She was joined by Gary Singh in 2016 after he was first elected to the council.

Like Moorhead, Singh understood the long view approach was critical for Manteca to land retail and dining options residents want.

As such it would also strength the local economy and increase the tax base to fund essential day-to-day municipal services.

The council  also heard the feedback developers were getting that commercial concerns were passing on prime sites south of the 120 Bypass because there was no “surface street” connection to the bulk of the growing neighborhoods in south Manteca at the time.

The Atherton Gap addressed that concern

Less than a year after the gap was finished, the pandemic hit.

The pandemic virtually froze brick and mortar growth that was already being reshaped by e-commerce.

If you set aside the two “lost years” as well as the lead time in property deals plus environmental-related work, that means what is now happening along Atherton Drive is basically coming right on the heels of the Atherton gap being completed.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com