Walmart is seeking to build a new 181,000 square-foot Supercenter in Manteca.
The pre-application filed Wednesday with the City of Manteca involves 44 acres Walmart has acquired on the northwest corner of Atherton Drive and South Main Street.
It is directly across the 120 Bypass from the existing 110,000 square-foot Walmart is currently has a storewide remodeling underway that will be completed this summer.
As a comparison, the Walmart on Grantline Road in Tracy has 208,000 square feet.
Walmart’s new store will also make it the largest retailer in Manteca based on square footage followed by Costco at 140,000 square feet and Bass Pro Shops as well as Target at 120,000 square feet.
The new Supercenter will include a drive-thru pharmacy and a fuel station.
It will anchor a development that will include a parcel for a 40,000 to 60,000 square foot junior anchor as well as 10 perimeter parcels that can be developed separately or paired together to accommodate quick service fast food to sit-down restaurants and other users.
“We’ve proudly served the Manteca community for over 30 years and look forward to continuing that commitment,” a Walmart spokesperson noted. “With this proposed new Supercenter, we’re excited to expand our offerings, add services, and create new jobs — helping (to) meet evolving customer needs while re-enforcing our long-term investment in the area.”
It is the latest investment the Walmart corporation is making in the fast-growing Manteca-Lathrop area.
A 165,000 square-foot Sam’s Club — Walmart’s membership warehouse store — is now under construction on Golden Valley Parkway north of Louise Avenue.
The Sam’s Club will also include a fueling station. The complex is targeting a late 2026 opening.
Mayor Gary Singh called the Walmart decision “a game changer” in terms of Manteca’s retail landscape.
As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart opting to move forward with a larger and more modern store is expected to spark a lot of attention from commercial endeavors eager to locate in close proximity to a store that generates the largest foot traffic in retail.
Walmart does not intend to develop the other retail parcels of the center and intends to sell them off.
Singh said the city is putting together a team to work with Walmart to assure that its application process moves forward in a timely manner.
“Our goal is to secure approval this year so Walmart could break ground in 2027 if they want to,” Singh said.
The city also plans to work with Walmart with securing a new tenant for their existing store location on South Main Street.
Walmart owns its store that it is currently remodeling in the Mission Ridge Shopping Center. The company plans to sell the 110,000 square-foot building.
The new Walmart will back up to the 120 Bypass with its west side facing the 455-unit Atherton Arms apartment complex.
The main entrance will align with the driveway now in place next to where the Starbucks and Chipotle Kitchen are now under construction in the Marketplace at Main that will be anchored by Manteca’s third Save Mart.
There will be traffic signals installed at the intersection with the driveways.
The Walmart fueling station will be off the driveway behind future concerns along Atherton Drive.
There will also be a right turn only access to the Walmart center from southbound South Main Street.
How Manteca snagged a
new Walmart Supercenter
The decision by Walmart to move forward with a new Manteca store was not by chance.
While the corporation was sold on the general location that Main Street offered for easy freeway access especially for consumers in nearby communities such as Ripon and Escalon that wouldn’t have to battle a lot of surface traffic as they do to reach stores in Modesto, Stockton, or even Tracy, it prefers sites that don’t require a lot of upfront improvements.
That’s because street widening and such takes time and can be dicey.
The City Council’s economic development subcommittee consisting of Singh and Councilman Mike Morowit understood what was at stake.
It is why they lead a city effort that was a first for Manteca — an effort to get all infrastructure in place in a desired development area as they are now doing on South Main from the 120 Bypass to Woodward Avenue.
They got California Gold — the developers of Save Mart center — on board.
At the same time, they hammered out an agreement for the owners of the 44-acres where the new Walmart is agreement to have the frontage improvements done along South Main Street with their share of the costs covered when the land was sold.
The city established an area of benefit that meant California Gold and other property owners involved in the widening work would be reimbursed for the work they were doing that did not border their respective projects.
Singh, and the council, also got another thing they wanted which was eliminating the city’s historic piecemeal approach to the widening of major arterials.
PG&E poles now gone,
McDonald’s breaking
ground on Monday
The roughly four-week closure of Atherton Drive between Atherton Drive and Woodward Avenue was going well on Wednesday.
PG&E finished removing power poles that were in the needed right of way to widen the street to four lanes. The power lines have been buried.
The work, besides widening the street and extending power and other infrastructure to Marketplace at Main, is also cueing up installation of the long-awaited traffic signals at Woodward and Main.
The signal poles are expected to arrive within the month, Singh said.
Meanwhile, Manteca’s fifth free-standing McDonald’s is breaking ground on the southeast corner of the center anchored by Save Mart.
The city’s third Quick Quack car wash is expected to break ground next month along South Main St.
Mission Ridge Shopping
Center is not forgotten
The city intends to look at ways to make sure the Mission Ridge Shopping Center and nearby areas don’t get left behind.
Manteca’s economic development staff played a role in securing Hobby Lobby to replace Burlington once that retail concern relocated to space vacated by Joann Fabrics at the Stadium Center.
They hope to enjoy similar success when Walmart relocates.
Manteca is not restricting its retail effort in the area to the Mission Ridge center.
The city has indicated they would welcome a retail-style operation in the 274,000 square foot building that BF Funstein/Tom Duffy Co. recently vacated on the northeast corner of South Main and Industrial Park Drive.
In doing, so the city is creating maximum flexibility for the property owner to sell or lease the building instead of just restricting the use to distribution.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
