Call it an extreme home field makeover for the Manteca High Buffaloes.

When mid-October rolls around, the 63 year-old stadium will essentially be all new except for the home bleachers.

The $13 million project is redoing everything from the drainage and turf as well as visitors bleachers to new lighting and poles.

The endeavor is taking place at the same time work is underway to build a two-story structure that will house 20 classroom along Garfield Avenue as well as a new woodshop.

Once the 2-story classroom complex is completed, older classrooms in the central part of the campus will be torn down to make way for a second two-story classroom building.

That structure  will be built along Sherman Avenue with 32 classrooms connected with a new media center via a student quad. It will be somewhat of a mirror of the 2-story classroom structure now under construction at East Union High on the west side of the campus along Union Road.

The stadium work is being funded for the district’s capital improvement funds.

The $30.2 million project along Garfield Avenue is one of the first projects being funded using the $260 million Measure A bond measure voters approved in November 2020.

When the campus master plan work is completed, the campus facilities will be designed to accommodate 2,250 students based on academic programming.

Manteca High opened this school year with an enrollment of 1,944 students.

The initial campus was built 104 years ago at a cost of $200,000.

It included an auditorium that seated 550 with a stage that had a gym floor for basketball games complete with a net to prevent errant basketballs or people from falling into the orchestra pit.

The mission-style campus with the beloved tower had all the latest technology including phone lines to all of the classrooms.

It was built to eventually accommodate upwards of 400 students.

The baseball field was on sandy loam that literally sent sand flying on every play.

And the football field where Manteca High would when its first football game ever that year was made possible by farmers using their own equipment.

The latest version of the Manteca High home field for football will be lightyears away from that initial field.

Manteca High, for all practical purposes, will have a new stadium and track facility by the end of October.

Upgrades include the following

*An 8-lane all-weather track.

*State-of-the-art field lights.

*The campus will be further secured with an 8-foot high wrought iron fence along the eastern boundary of the stadium to eliminate homeless cutting through the chain link fence.

*Eight-foot wrought iron fencing on the eastern boundary of the campus/stadium is designed to prevent homeless and others from accessing the field and campus. Over the years, the individuals have entered the campus by cutting holes in the existing fence.

 *The fencing along the southern boundary will be chain link with slats.

*It includes a hybrid Bermuda turf designed to accommodate both football and soccer that increases the durability of the turf.

*Irrigation systems are being replaced to address ongoing issues and to align with standards for water conservation, adequate coverage, and controls.

*The stadium will be brought up to current building codes. That includes Americans with Disabilities Act compliance concerns and providing for lighting upgrades to emergency egress requirements.

Among the other work:

*Replacing the main electrical service for the stadium due to the age and condition of the infrastructure.

*Replacing the fire alarm system, audio visual system and emergency egress lighting for the stadium.

*Installing emergency backup battery storage to support the emergency egress lighting.

*Replacing the 1,000-seat visitors’ bleachers.

*New ticket booth/restroom building as well as a picnic/pop up tent area.

*Installing ADA parking and an accessibility path.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com