Manteca is rapidly emerging as an epicenter for staging events and weddings.

The owners of the elegant Veranda Banquet & Events Center in downtown who transformed the structure that once housed the El Rey Theatre that was dubbed the “Grand Dame” of Manteca when it opened in 1937 are now in the process of opening a second facility.

It’s the 200-seat Veranda Gardens that will serve as a banquet and event hall in a former furniture store being remodeled on Moffat Boulevard at Woodward Avenue.

They have purchased another furniture store — Legacy Furniture Gallery — directly across the street from the Veranda Events Center in the 100 block of East Yosemite.

They may be using the space to open several restaurants as well as provide storage space.

The Veranda caters extensively to weddings, parties, banquets, as well as special events such as niche concerts that draw attendees from throughout Northern California.

It has three distinctive areas:

*The Ballroom with a grand staircase that can seat between 300 and 500 people.

*The Veranda with a capacity of 250.

*The Rooftop with a capacity of 300.

It also has a commercial kitchen specializing in authentic Indian food as well as Hispanic American, Italian, and Persian cuisines.

When combined with existing and planned commercial events center/banquet space such as The Emory, Great Wolf, and Shez Shari there will be a local capacity for 3,500 people at various venues.

And that does not include the FESM and MRPS facilities downtown that each have a pair of social halls for events and weddings.

The Villa Banchetto events and banquet hall approved along with the city’s second bowling alley and family fun center on Atherton Drive midway between Union Road and Airport Way will match the downtown Veranda in size in terms of capacity.

And while it might not end up matching the lofty standard The Veranda has set for elegance; it will make up for it in other ways that make it an effective one-stop for weddings from the ceremony to the reception.

The banquet hall/conference center will include:

*three 200-person capacity rooms,

*two 100-person capacity rooms.

*16,400 square feet of assembly space.

*two chapels.

*six brides and grooms dressing rooms.

*large full-service kitchen with two complete service lines, one for domestic food preparation and one for ethnic food preparation.

*full video center for live recording of events.

Square footage wise in  terms of using space for banquets, events, and weddings Villa Banchetto will have 16,400 square feet of usable space compared to Great Wolf’s 5,652 square feet.

The fact it has three times the events center than Great Wolf gives you an idea of what the Villa Banchetto will offer.

The events centers when wedded with the surge in hotel building will help open up more economic possibilities for Manteca.

Between what is now in place, ready to open, and proposed the city  is inching toward surpassing the 1,400 room mark.

The count does not include several smaller hotels that don’t cater to travelers per se.

New hotels include:

*The 101-room, 4-story Staybridge Suites will open July 1 along Daniels Street on the northeast side of the Airport Way and 120 Bypass interchange.

*A 112-room, 4-story Woodspring Suites on Atherton Drive on the southeast side of the same interchange that on Thursday, May 16, goes before the Manteca Planning Commission for a design review of plans

Those two hotels are in addition to the 117-room, 4-story Courtyard by Marriott already approved on Atherton Drive on the southwest side of the Airport Way/120 Bypass next to where the Manteca Crossing commercial center broke ground last week.

Two decades ago, there were only three hotels catering to the traveling and vacationing public in all of Manteca with less than 300 rooms between them.

Manteca boosts the largest hotel in the Great Central Valley from Redding to Bakersfield with the  500-room Great Valley resort.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com