It is, without a doubt, the ideal venue to showcase the future of downtown Manteca.

The Veranda Events Center is the site of the April 29 State of the City.

It’s on a Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Organizers fully expect the 500-seat venue — that includes a rooftop patio with booths and static displays showcasing the services and success stories of various municipal departments — to be sold out.

The Veranda, since it opened three years ago, has drawn people from throughout the region and greater north state for special occasions.

The city hopes to create a similar pulling power throughout the week and weekends with its bid to transform the iconic IOOF Hall and adjoining parking lot just down the street from The Veranda into a gathering place for people.

The first step of that process, that ultimately entails a private sector partner, is the city’s acquisition of the property where the Manteca Bedquarters is now housed.

The venue selection wasn’t lost on Mayor Gary Singh who noted it was an “amazing” reimagining of the building that first opened as the El Rey Theatre on April 15, 1937.

It was heralded as the “Grand Dame of Manteca.”

It’s opening at the height of the Great Depression breathed new life into downtown Manteca.

Movie tickets went for 35 cents. They were 40 cents if you opted for cutting edge rocking chairs in the loges.

The El Rey towered over the downtown skyline near the corner of Yosemite and Main, literally feet from where Manteca founded Joshua Cowell built his farm house in 1863.

The theater had a 48-year run as Manteca’s major source of commercial entertainment until it was gutted by fire on Aug. 6, 1975 after the screening of “The Towering Inferno.”

The shell of the El Rey stood for years as a downtown eyesore.

Finally, after attempts by the private sector to covert it into a two or three story office building failed to get off the ground, the city used redevelopment agency funds to team up with two brothers who saw the potential for the space to again be a gathering place.

In 1998, it reopened as Kelley Brothers Brewing Co. & Brickyard Oven Restaurant.

It put downtown back on the map in the changing commercial landscape.

The Great Recession, triggered by the mortgage meltdown/housing crisis, set the stage for its demise 14 years later.

The building’s third act —the Veranda — is in synch with the direction downtown Manteca appears headed.

Since it’s opening and less than a block away, the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, Brethren Brewery, an independent coffee shop, and a wine bar have opened.

The principals in The Veranda invested $5 million in the transformation of Kelley Brothers into successful events center with a heavy emphasize on family celebrations.

They also bought the former furniture store across the street and a parking lot north of Accent Carpet.

The moves reflect not just a confidence in downtown’s future but a desire to be positioned to capitalize on the pending transformation the just commissioned downtown specific plan will be designed to put in motion.

“The timing is right for downtown,” Singh said.

Singh played an active role in the effort that led to the formation of the downtown business association, now in its inaugural year.

Such associations are formed by property owners who tax themselves to find ways to market and make downtowns more appealing.

They are, as Councilman Mike Morowit noted at Tuesday’s council meeting, a key to the success of downtown revitalizations from Lodi to Livermore.

Singh noted the city in recent years has address homeless issues and retained a property services firm that routinely power washes sidewalks in front of stores and at Library Park as well as the paver crosswalks on a regular basis.

Singh indicated the theme for this year’s State of the City is “Make it Manteca.”

Tickets for the 2026 State of the City event have yet to go on sale.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com