It’s official.

Manteca is turning into the hottest market in the Northern San Joaquin Valley for apartment developers.

And A.G. Spanos — that at one point ranked among the nation’s largest apartment builders — is getting  in on the action.

The Stockton-based firm whose founder — the late Alex G. Spanos — parlayed apartment development into ownership of the now Los Angeles Chargers NFL football franchise — has submitted plans to build a 245-unit complex near the northwest corner of the current McKinley Avenue’s intersection with Woodward Avenue in southwest Manteca.

McKinley Avenue —  when work is completed on the interchange on the 120 Bypass —  will be aligned south of the freeway and intersect with Woodward Avenue to the east.

A.G. Spanos Companies has constructed more than 200,000 multiple family units across the nation including 22,000 units in Las Vegas.

Spanos shifted from food catering to the construction of apartment buildings in 1960. By 1977, the company became the largest apartment builder in the United States. The conglomerate, which is owned by the Spanos family following Spanos’ death in 2018, remains as one of the most successful apartment development companies in the United States.

There are now 2,815 apartment units either in the process of being built, approved but yet to break ground, or in the approval process.

Besides the Spanos project, there are four applications to build 1,516 apartments in Manteca currently under review by  the city.

*672 units on the southeast quadrant of the Main Street and 120 Bypass interchange.

 *62 units in the Yosemite complex proposed to the east of Kaiser Hospital on West Yosemite Avenue.

*472 units in the Wawona complex proposed on the west side of Airport Way between Big League Dreams and Wawona Street.

*210 units in the Soma complex proposed on the southeast corner of Atherton Drive and South Main Steet.

*100 units behind the Moose Lodge at North Main Street and Lancaster Drive.

The Soma project will be considered for approval by the Manteca Planning Commission when they meet Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m., at the Civic Center council chambers.

An additional 856 units between three complexes have been entitled but have yet to start construction

Those three include the 136-unit Luxury Apartments on Lathrop Road west of Union Road where structures and trees have been removed from the project site.

Another approved complex yet to break ground is the 420-unit Prose project planned for the western extension of Center Street.

The third project is the 300-unit Union Crossing complex on the southwest corner of Union Road and Atherton Drive.

There are 201 apartments currently under construction. Of those 192 are in the second phase of The Atherton complex on Atherton Drive east of Bass Pro Shops. The others are in  a small complex on Stewart Street northeast of Powers and Yosemite avenues.

The proposed North Main Street and Lancaster Drive complex is being proposed by CDFRP Affordable Housing.

The firm — with offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York — have owned, operated, developed and managed over 2,500 age-restricted units.

The parcel is behind the Elks Lodge and the small complex anchored by a Chevron station and convenience store that opened last year at North Main and Lancaster Drive.

It is the first rent-restricted complex that is not designed for seniors only to be proposed since the 153-unit Juniper Apartment complex was completed roughly a decade ago on Atherton Drive east of Van Ryn Avenue. That complex is considered workforce housing as the rent is tied to a set percentage of the renters’ income.

If approved, it would become Manteca’s third rent-restricted apartment complex. The other is on Wawona at Union Road.

There are four low-income senior complexes in Manteca as well.

Manteca largest apartment complex ever — the 672 units proposed on the southeast corner of the Main Street/120 Bypass interchange — is part of a larger housing development.

It will also include 48 duplex units and 98 single family homes to the east of Main Street with the homes on both sides of Atherton Drive.

That project is just north of the proposed 210 apartments on the southeast corner of Atherton Drive and South Street being pursued by the Bay Area-based SOMA group.

When those are completed as well as the Quintal Road project complexes, there will be 2,326 apartment units along Atherton Drive between Bass Pro Road and a point east of Van Ryn Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com