The next big deal downtown could be hammered out tonight.

The Manteca City Council is meeting behind closed doors to discuss the possible sale of property it bought on the northwest corner of Yosemite and Sycamore avenues in June of 2022 for $80,000.

 The city bought two parcels with a combined 6,500 square feet for the expressed purpose of using them to develop a catalyst that would attract private sector investors to develop a project that would help pump new life into the downtown district.

The property in question includes “The Wall.”

It has stood for 40 plus years in the 300 block of West Yosemite Avenue in downtown Manteca.

“The Wall” is a ruin, if you will, from the start of downtown’s glory days.

The Roaring 20’s a century ago gave the downtown area of the city that had  been incorporated five years prior a presence out-of-proportion to the city’s 1,286 residents.

It was an era long before Sam Walton opened his first Walmart or Jeff Bezos came up with the idea to sell books on the Internet via a company called Amazon.

The age of the super-commuter had yet to dawn. Traveling to San Jose or San Francisco was an overnight trip.

Yosemite Avenue was hotel row back then.

All except the Waukeen Hotel were second floor affairs. Some live on today as efficiency apartments.

The Waukeen Hotel was all hotel from the ground floor to the third floor.

It abutted a building that’s last standing remains today is “The Wall” and stood on the northwest corner of Yosemite and Sycamore avenues.

A deadly fire in the 1970s gutted the Waukeen and the adjoining building. All that was left was “The Wall.”

One possible endeavor that has been explored is a multi-story project with three to four floors.

The ground floor would be retail while the upper floors would be residential, possibly for seniors.

 Other cities in California have a history of buying blighted property in downtown areas and making a silk purse out of the proverbial sow’s ear.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com