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RDA holdings: $3.15M loss?
Forced sale includes court complex site & Qualex building
RDA
The former Qualex building one envisioned as Mantecas police station could sell for a $2.2 million loss.

Four properties bought with Manteca Redevelopment Agency funds —including a 3.1-acre high-profile commercial parcel at Airport Way and Daniels Street — are destined to go on the auction block in 2014.

The four parcels have a current estimated market value of $6.2 million.

They are part of eight parcels the RDA owned when it was disbanded along with other redevelopment agencies statewide by the California Legislature. State law requires the city meet certain criteria for transferring the parcels to municipal ownership. Parcels that don’t meet such tests must be sold. A pro-rata share of the proceeds would go back to the Successor Agency formed under state law for economic development. The rest would go to other taxing agencies.

If the four properties sell for the minimum bids based on property appraisals the auctions will bring in $6.2 million. If that happens, the RDA investments will have lost $3.15 million in value as only one property is worth more today than when it was purchased.

The four parcels are:

•3.1 acres on the northwest corner of Airport Way and Daniels Street zoned general commercial purchased for $534,743 with the intent to resell it to a private developer for retail uses. It is now valued at $1,239,630 and would be auctioned on April 1, 2014. It was bought along with other properties in the area including one being sold to San Joaquin County for a South County satellite complex for county services.

•Some 8.1 acres at 682 S. Main Street zoned for mixed commercial use bought for $2,600,000 and now appraised at $3,200,000. It was originally bought when the county was seriously considering building a courts complex for the South County in Manteca. The expected loss in value is cushioned somewhat by $330,000 in lease payments the city collected over a five-year period from American Modular. The auction date is set tentatively for June 1, 2014.

•A 4.9 acre parcel along with a 55,000-square-foot building that once housed Qualex at 555 Industrial Park Drive is targeted for a June 1, 2014 auction. The light industrial property was bought as a future Manteca Police Department headquarters building. The RDA paid $3,695,000 for it. It is worth an estimated $1,500,000 today.

•A 7.6 acre parcel at 600-800 Moffat Boulevard that the city purchased to put in place the Tidewater Bikeway and a drainage basin/park is worth $275,000 today. It was bought for $613,035 to eliminate blight and to sell in the future to a private developer. The park basin and Tidewater would continue as public use under terms of the sale. The auction is tentatively set for July 1, 2014.

It is being proposed that four other parcels be transferred to city ownership under state guidelines. They are:

•a half acre at 123 S. Grant Ave. developed as a municipal parking lot.

•1.9 acres bought between the end of Milo Candini Drive and West Yosemite Avenue that is being used to extend Milo Canddini Drive to Yosemite.

•a 4.8-acre parcel along the 120 Bypass and adjacent to the Stadium Retail Center that includes a large fountain and serves as a storm retention basin.

•the 3.28 acres on Moffat Boulevard used to build the transit center.

The Manteca City Council sitting as the Successor Agency will make a decision on what to do with the property when they meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.