The old Kmart building in Manteca is now the new U-Haul Moving & Storage of Northgate.

And as such it is joining the looming storage wars in Manteca involving five proposed or approved storage facilities for everything  from small units to RV storage. Between the five as well as the new U-Haul facility firms are poised to add more than 2,500 storage units in Manteca.

The adaptive reuse of the 107,318-square-foot-former Kmart at 255 Northgate Drive is a work in progress, having just opened as a temporary showroom offering moving supplies.

Plans call for adding more than 700 indoor climate-controlled self-storage rooms along with truck and trailer sharing, towing equipment and professional hitch installation, U-Box portable storage containers, and a spacious retail showroom.

“We’re investing in Manteca while conserving resources by reusing the building,” said U-Haul Company of Central Valley President Chris Trudell in Thursday’s press release.

He added: “U-Haul has sought out and repurposed buildings for decades as part of our sustainability model. We’re excited to show our neighbors what adaptive reuse can mean to a community.”

What’s more, U-Haul is looking to provide jobs.

Once the store becomes fully operational, Trudell plans to employ locally, bringing on at least 12 team members to the Manteca store – click on to www.uhauljobs.com.

U-Haul was honored as a “Best for Vets 2020” for actively recruiting veterans, according to The Military Times.

Kmart closed in 2017 after parent company Sears Holding pulled the plug on 72 stores back then as its latest cutbacks. 

The building was the first “big box” style department store in Manteca, opening about 50 years earlier at Manteca Marketplace on West Yosemite Avenue before moving to the large Northgate Drive location in the early 1990s.

It stood vacant and was an eyesore in recent years with the City of Manteca considering the shuttered place as a potential site for the homeless problem before settling on the old Qualex building as the warming center back in December 2019.

U-Haul acquired the property on Aug. 31.

Current business hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 209.923.6092.

The location is being dubbed U-Haul Moving & Storage of Northgate.

That is because the firm will continue to operate  U-Haul Moving & Storage of Manteca . That location is open at 1190 S. Main St. from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to -5 p.m. Sunday.

Other storage facilities

in the works for Manteca

There are now three  storage facilities proposed for Manteca that are moving through the city approval process.

*The Tesoro Boat and RV Storage project that will accommodate 532 recreational vehicles on a 13.68 acre triangle parcel bordering the north side of Woodward Avenue and located between Atherton Drive and Moffat Boulevard.

*A 393-unit mini-storage complex at 183 South Austin Road.

*An 844-unit storage facility at 2430 West Atherton Drive. When built, it will be the largest in the city.

Those three projects that are now in the environmental review process are in addition to Arco Storage on North Main Street just north of Northgate Drive that has gained approval for additional storage units on land immediately as well as a smaller facility approved on the west side of South Main Street.

The Tesoro Boat and RV Storage will be the largest of its kind in Manteca.

It will be a full service storage facility with an office building, vehicle cleaning station, vehicle dumping station as well as propane and air filling stations.

Access will be from Atherton Drive to the property that was most recently a truck terminal. Buildings on the site were demolished earlier this year.

What makes the project unique is what it could entail.

The applicant is exploring installing approximately 300,000 square feet of solar arrays within the project to supply power for the nearby City of Manteca water storage tank. The financial feasibility of the solar aspect is being explored and is being included as part of the project in the event it pencils out it could be built without further public review.

The Austin Road storage facility is being proposed by John Pinedo of Valley Springs. It consists of 48,170 square feet between 13 single story buildings on 2.76 acres.

Manteca’s largest self-storage complex yet is being proposed for 5.64 acres in southwest Manteca.

The site is at 2430 West Atherton Drive. That’s on the south side of where the four-lane arterial curves across from Sterling Homes modular housing showcase lot.

The complex will have nine buildings with 844 storage units as well as an office. Overall it will consist of 123,357 square feet or roughly the same floor space as the Manteca Target store.

It will be the city’s ninth self-storage complex and the first in southwest Manteca.

The proposed 884-unit storage facility will border a sound wall that separates it from homes to the south and west.

Currently Bella Terra Lane dead-ends into the parcel where the self-storage is proposed.

An access gate will block off the street at that point. Directly aligned with that access gate is the main entrance from Atherton Drive where the control gates will be located.

It will be required to have 27 parking spaces, three dedicated to clean air vehicles, two electric car charging stations.