The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley has inked another tenant.
The Tone Reformer Pilates Studio will be opening a location.
Grupe Huber, the new owner of Orchard Valley that has invested into refreshing the 17 year-old center, also is working with ither potential clients.
Proposed downtown arch
garners some opposition
The proposal before the Manteca City Council Tuesday to spend $618,000 on a gateway arch in the 100 block of South Main Street is drawing some flak.
The bottom line of the criticism is that the arch is a waste of money.
City Manager Toni Lundgren noted the arch, which had been previously proposed 20 years ago, is designed to define downtown Manteca and create part of an overall appeal.
It is similar to what Ripon did with their downtown makeover that, just like Manteca’s, also included installing street lights mirroring old-fashioned design.
Lathrop has just finished two gateway arches to help mark the entrances to the older section of that community.
Downtown businesses and property owners when Manteca’s downtown makeover was outlined in 2002 believed the arch would go a long way to defining the downtown area by adding ambiance.
The arch was trimmed out of the plan — along with changing out street lights to the old-fashioned style on Center Street that are along Main and Yosemite — when squabbing delayed putting the project out to bid for 18 months.
During that delay, material process increased significantly forcing the need for the city to rethink what it could afford to do.
The City Council when they meet Tuesday will decide if the project — being paid for partially with $300,000 in remaining pass-through federal COVID relief funds that must be committed and spent by Dec. 31, 2026 — takes place.
The proposed arch would have lighting that could be changed based on holidays such as red, blue, and white on the Fourth of July , Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.
The city received nearly $14 million in federal COVID funds. What they didn’t need to cover pandemic related expenses or loss of sales tax revenue due to forced closures was put toward needed street maintenance equipment, a wastewater treatment plant project, and such needs.
What was left was earmarked for various one-time projects by the council such as license plate readers, the waterplay feature being built at Woodward Park, the cricket field at Doxey Park, Center Street tennis court lighting, basketball court lighting at Woodward Park, and the community garden.
The council meets Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
