River Islands at Lathrop is once again averaging 10 new home sales a week.

Sales in the 15,001-home planned community dropped off slightly while additional buildable lots were being created.

At the current pace, the Cambay Group project will end 2026 with roughly 500 homes which was the firm’s annual target when they broke ground.

There have now been 4,300 homes built.

The development  has roughly 12,000 residents.

There are currently 17 new neighborhoods under construction.

An example of the neighborhoods include:

*Pulte Homes’ Shores with three models up to 4,556 square feet with starting base price ranging from $1,034,990 to $1,114,990.

*Kiper Homes’ Capri from 2,484 to 3,198 square feet with base prices ranging from $759,990 to $825,900.

*Del Webb’s age restricted community for those 55 and older with seven models with 1,451 to 2,743 square feet with base prices ranging from $474,900 to $719,990.

*Van Daele’s Hideaway neighborhood with bungalow homes and single level carriage style homes ranging from 1,447 to 1,860 square feet with base prices ranging from $467,990 to $553,990.

*Kiper Homes’ Skye with four models ranging from 2,100 to 3,678 square feet with base prices ranging from $800,900 to $985,000.

Pleasonton-style

business park

Besides 15,001 planned housing units, the endeavor includes long-range plans for a Pleasanton-style business park.

Every time a home closes escrow at River Islands at Lathrop, $5,000 is paid into an account designed to lure employers to the planned community’s envisioned 350-acre business park.

That fee — along with the housing mix and lifestyle Cambay Group is creating in the 4,800-acre project — could be the key to help Lathrop do what no other Northern San Joaquin Valley city has done. And that is to create a large business park devoted exclusively to research and development, office headquarters and laboratory space.

The goal is to create 16,800 jobs to balance the 15,001 homes being built.

Language approved by Lathrop voters explicitly prohibits warehouse or distribution centers. The street patterns and other flows such as for pedestrians are designed not to accommodate truck traffic save for local deliveries to future stores.

Breaking the mold of San Joaquin County being the domain of distribution centers either moving out of the Bay Area or opting to locate close to it and be able to serve the Sacramento market at the same time is being done by design.

The strategy of Cambay Group is to develop a desirable community with easy access by passenger rail to the Bay Area to serve as an enticement for firms that want to move out of the high cost Bay Area to take advantage of a pool of 85,000 workers — many of whom are in the tech fields — that commute each day from the Northern San Joaquin Valley to San Jose, the Silicon Valley, and San Francisco.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com