Manteca’s part of the bargain in securing the 500-room Great Wolf indoor waterpark resort moving toward a mid-2020 opening will cost $9.4 million.
That is the amount of the contract the City Council is expected to award to Knife River Construction to extend Daniels Street from where it now ends next to Costco and Big League Dreams to McKinley Avenue. The council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.
The contract being awarded is $1.2 million higher than the engineer’s estimate. The council is also being asked to give the city manager the authority for change orders up to 15 percent above the contract amount regarding issues with the exact alignment of the McKinley/Daniels intersection in relation to the design of the new 120 Bypass/McKinley Avenue interchange that is moving forward and the exact location of the realignment of the French Camp outlet canal that will be replaced with pipe.
The city is contractually obligated through their agreement with Great Wolf to have the Daniels Street extension in place by Jan. 6, 2020. The Great Wolf project represents a $180 million private sector investment that will provide 250 fulltime jobs and 250 part-time jobs.
The city will use part of the remaining redevelopment agency funds set aside for the South Area Regional Infrastructure Project to pay for the work. After the Daniels extension is paid for that will leave less than $5 million in the RDA account.
The extension work will include all utilizes, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, landscaping and traffic signals at Daniels Street and the main entrance to Great Wolf Lodge.
The Daniels Street extension will also open up more city-owned land for development as a family entertainment zone generally north of the street extension’s alignment and the municipal wastewater treatment plant.
The city is also moving toward groundbreaking on adding a fourth interchange to access Manteca from the 120 Bypass at McKinley Avenue.
That interchange will serve growth south of the 120 Bypass as well as a massive Lathrop employment center that will abut McKinley Avenue.
It is also needed if Great Wolf exercises an option on city land to add up to 300 more hotel rooms.
The biggest new traffic generator in the area, however, is likely to be the city’s FEZ being designed to pursue regional dining and entertainment draws to pull patrons from Tracy, Modesto, and Stockton as well as Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
