The building that once housed Manteca’s biggest private sector employer could be converted to indoor storage for RVs, boats, and vehicles.

The 78,000-square foot building at 400 Industrial Park Drive has been vacant for more than a decade.

The city is currently reviewing a proposal that would not only covert the interior into indoor storage for vehicles but also fence in and screen the large parking lot for outdoor storage. It would also include office space and an on-site manager’s residence.

Such an operation in Manteca is expected to draw Bay Area clientele. Not only are storage rates in the valley lower than the Bay Area, but it would also be accessible on their way to and from the Sierra.

The Bay Area-Sierra trade is what prompted Manteca Trailer & Motorhome to build Northern California’s first indoor RV, boat, and vehicle storage condo complex in 2007 by as Own Your Own storage condominiums.   Located at 10800 East Highway 120 east of Austin Road originally were offered at $57,995 for the smallest unit at 14 feet wide and 40 feet deep to the largest for $125,900 that bought a 28- by-40-foot unit. They are designed as drive-thru units with roll up doors, a ventilation system and sprinkler system.

The onset of the Great Recession sent storage condo sales into a dive. Indoor storage is now rented starting at $300 a month and up with outdoor storage at $50 a month.

At one point in 2005, a Manteca Bulletin survey of mini-storage facilities in Manteca indicated almost one out of every four units was rented by a Bay Area client. Reasons given ranged from the lower cost and availability of units to the convenience of Manteca being on the primary Bay Area access to the Sierra.

 The proposed indoor storage facility on Industrial Park Drive was last occupied by Turnkey Solutions. They were the last of a series of high tech firms that produced computer chip products in the building first erected in 1980. Initially it was Indy Electronics that had a peak workforce of 800 employees. It then was bought by Alphatec before being sold to Turnkey Solutions.

Much of the copper has been removed since the last manufacturing operation was at the site. Police at one point estimated the copper loss at over $1 million. That was before at transient, scouring for copper, fell through a skylight to his death.