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VFW celebrates groundbreaking Monday
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A new $1.6 million community center that will serve as the home for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6311 is part of the ongoing revitalization of the Moffat Boulevard corridor.

Groundbreaking ceremonies take place this Monday at 3 p.m. at 580 Moffat Blvd. for the City of Manteca project.

The 3,600-square-foot building is expected to be open in time for veterans to use starting next Fourth of July.

Just five years ago the corridor was plagued with arson fires set by homeless and random dumping. Before that trucks used vacant city land to park overnight.

Many of the buildings that served as an attractive nuisance have been torn down. Manteca barred trucks from parking and stepped up code enforcement including illegal dumping.

The lease the City Council inked with the Jimmie Connors VFW Post notes the structure will be a public building. It will be available for rent by the public when it is not being used for its primary purpose of serving veterans groups and veterans events.

The lease is for $1 a year for 20 years. There are two 10-pyear options for renewal. The VFW will have first right of refusal to purchase the building and property if the city should decide at the end of the lease to sell.

The VFW will be responsible for all insurance, utilities, maintenance and operations connected with the building and the site as a whole.

It will mark the first time the VFW Post has had its own building to serve as its home. The VFW current shares space with the American Legion at that organization’s building next to PG&E in the 200 block of East Yosemite Avenue.