Manteca is spending an additional $95,000 with a Chicago-based consultant to move the city’s 140-acre FEZ endeavor forward.
FEZ is short-hand for family entertainment zone.
It is 140 acres once acquired to expand wastewater treatment plant spray fields that Manteca has been working on for more than a decade to queue up as the city’s biggest economic drawing card aimed at securing leisure and family entertainment dollars.
The two categories are essentially Internet proof meaning the city won’t be competing with the growing online economy.
Manteca has already gotten two major parts of the puzzle in place — the 500-room Great Wolf indoor water park resort and the Big League Dreams sports complex.
The Loma Brewing Co. will open as part of the FEZ this summer. It’s site, however, was carved out of the BLD parking lot.
The city has already spent $417,068 with Hunden Strategic Partners to develop a new FEZ masterplan.
Another $167,068 was also used for a focused environmental impact report that would streamline the development process for interested projects.
The additional work the Manteca City Council authorized last week is spending $95,000 to basically exam financing mechanisms as well as vetting potential private sector developers to keep moving the FEZ project forward.
In March, the city posted on its Facebook page a three minute and 38 second marketing video they are using to catch the attention of private sector decisions makers who locate restaurants, stores and more about the economic viability of the Family Entertainment Zone.
A large area of the FEZ is shovel ready from a four-lane Daniels Street extension complete with three separate intersections with stub streets in place to access much of the site.
The video emphasizes the high level of access it has thanks to two interchanges on the 120 Bypass — including the recently completed McKinley interchange — that serves as a five-mile connection between Interstate 5 and Highway 99.
Among the highlights the video notes:
*Manteca, which now has 94,000 residents, is on track to top 100,000 by 2028.
*The median household income is now $124,000 and growing.
*The median house price is $590,000.
*There are four international airports — San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, and Sacramento — within 70 miles of the FEZ.
*Manteca has more 30,000 rooftops with 1,306 single family homes built or started in 2024.
*The city has a streamlined process for businesses locating in Manteca.
*Loma Brewing Co. will be opening in the FEZ this summer.
The word “prime” used to describe the FEZ location is justified in part by the 2 million visitors alone that Great Wolf and BLD draw to Manteca on an annual basis.
The renderings of what the city hopes the FEZ will end up looking like marries stores and restaurants in walkable settings connected by promenades and supporting park-like areas.
The main target of family could include venues ranging from the Chicken N Pickle chain that involves pickleball playing courts with restaurant service to concerns such as climbing wall gyms.
There could also be larger park areas with multiuse playing fields, small-scale concert venues and more.
Before, the city was shooting for 100 percent sports-recreation businesses.
Adding stores to the mix is expected to build not just on the synergy of Costco but the fact FEZ is on top of the rapidly growing southwest portion of the city where household incomes are exceeding $140,000 according to data gleaned by developers.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
