The 120 Bypass is becoming the “big thing” when it comes to retail and hotels in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

It is already home to the biggest outdoor sporting goods store in the form of the 120,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shop.

Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park with its 500-room hotel now being built will not only be the largest hotel in the 209 when it opens in mid-2020 but also in the entire Central Valley.

And when the 117,000-square-foot Living Spaces furniture showroom store opens in 2020 the 120 Bypass will also boost the largest furniture showroom in the region.

The Manteca Planning Commission Tuesday approved the site plan for Living Spaces. The furniture store will anchor the city’s newest commercial development on the southwest corner of Union Road and Atherton Drive. It is being built north of Atherton Drive just east of where the four-lane road’s alignment nestles against the freeway. The store will back up to the freeway off-ramp.

The development firm is in serious negotiations for a grocery store, bank, coffee shop, and a combination gas station/convenience store for other locations within Union Crossing that flanks both sides of Atherton Drive west of Union Road. In addition developers expect plans for 281 apartments to move forward in a fairly short order.

The Living Spaces will have space set aside within the main structure’s footprint for a restaurant to open at a later date. 

The restaurant in the store is a fairly new concept for Living Spaces. A Texas location features a Beck’s Prime restaurant with patio and a second floor deck for outside dining as well as inside seating.

The Living Spaces will have an area where the staff dispenses soda and coffee to customers as well as to bake fresh cookies that are made available on weekends. There is also a play area for kids.

The Living Space structure is actually smaller than the Ashley’s Furniture retail outlet and warehouse in Lathrop facing Interstate 5 as well as the 1 million square foot Wayfair distribution center along the 120 Bypass in Lathrop that is nearing completion.

Wayfair is internet sales base while the largest portion of Ashley’s is a warehouse.

The Living Spaces store will not be a warehouse per se but will be almost all showroom. Furniture customers buy will be shipped from the Fremont distribution center in 26-foot long trucks each day between 8 and 10 a.m. The only time larger 53-foot trucks will be used is for a week when they are shipping in furniture to set up the store displays.

The parking lot will have 456 spaces with 14 percent of them prewired to accommodate charging stations for electric vehicles.

The store will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends.

Plans call for 75 fulltime employees and 100 part-time workers. That is in addition to seasonal workers.

Manteca sealed the deal for Living spaces with a sales tax split similar to what the city did to secure Costco and The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley whose developers snared Bass Pro Shops.

That means Manteca — based on projected annual sales of $35 million — will end up splitting an estimated $350,000 in local sales tax. The actual deal calls for the split to be 50-50 of whatever is actually generated — whether it is annually higher or lower than $350,000 for 10 years or $3 million, whichever is reached first.

Based on the projections, Manteca while the split is in effect would receive $175,000 in general fund sales tax, $20,000 in property tax, and $175,000 in restricted Measure M public safety tax. Manteca’s leaders point out the $370,000 a year the city will receive while the terms of the split are in effect is $375,000 that would have been lost to another city. After the terms are fulfilled, Manteca will receive all of the sales tax.  

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com