It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.
Good food.
Good company.
People watching.
And al fresco dining with a hint of the scent of almond blossoms in the air.
Manteca is on the cusp of major changes.
And it could lead to having two vibrant city centers.
One downtown and the other designed originally to serve as a pseudo downtown — the Orchard Valley lifestyle center with store spaces facing each other along its own Main Street or, in Manteca’s case, its own Yosemite Avenue.
Sunday I was savoring vegetarian lasagna and pleasant conversation in the outdoor dining area at DJ’s Restaurant & Tap House not far from the spot where Wayne “Cowboy” Cummings conducted his last Manteca Rodeo some 30 plus years ago.
Today the field that served as Manteca’s rodeo grounds and surrounding quasi-farmland is where the 748,000 square-foot Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley now stands.
Thanks to Grupe Huber — the Stockton-based concern that acquired Orchard Valley in 2024 — the complex anchored by Bass Pro Shops is moving toward fulfilling its original promise.
And it is doing so by expanding on what has been driving the most successful downtown transformations in the Bay Area and even the Central Valley.
It starts by creating a space with programming to entice people to gather. And it tosses out the playbook that says successful centers are powered primarily by traditional retail.
Orchard Valley in the past year has added a Sutter Health medical office complex, an IKEA design center, exercise studios, and a dance studio.
On the way are more dining options, another fitness studio option, a student learning center, and a specialty store.
The emphasis is indeed “lifestyle.”
The promise of Orchard Valley is where that “lifestyle” orientation can go serving Manteca that is about to grow past 100,000 residents along with other nearby growing that city is at the hub wedded with the strong regional pull of Bass Pro Shops.
The complex also has additional free-standing pads that will surface on the radar of national and regional dining options as Orchard Valley and Manteca continues to grow.
It includes such what is arguably “the prime” restaurant location in Manteca on the edge of a small lake across from Bass Pro and next to the 16 screen AMC Theater complete with an IMAX screen.
The nearby plaza hosts farmers markets and such while people flock to the lake to feed ducks.
Grupe Huber plans to build on the family friendly feel of the center that was designed to encourage community gatherings just as the Main Streets of yesteryear did by eventually adding a water play feature and stepped up programming of events and activities.
As such it could function as a city center or, if you will, a “downtown” south of the 120 Bypass.
Meanwhile a little more than 1.5 miles to the northeast as the drone flies, Manteca’s downtown is in the process of gearing up to shed its downy feathers and fly.
Do not misunderstand.
Downtown Manteca is doing OK.
Amidst retail, banks and services, there are ethnic markets, specialty stores, and expanding dining options.
The said there has slowly been the establishment of gathering venues — Brethren Brewery, House of Mokha, the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, and the Veranda Event Center.
You can dine al fresco downtown, but for now it isn’t much more than a few chairs and tables placed on the sidewalk.
Dining on the sidewalk outside of Frank’s Downtown Cafe in the 100 block of Maple Avenue is OK but it’s not as appealing as it can be in places such as downtown Tracy.
That is where the downtown plan that is being put together in the coming year comes into play.
If downtown is to flourish as a gathering place as well as hold its own and then some with newer commercial areas, automobile movements need to be de-emphasized as the default priority.
That doesn’t mean the idiotic idea of a consultant back in 2002 to force people to stop in downtown by clogging up Main Street.
The vision, that was repeated during the battle of the bulb outs that didn’t end until each one was ripped out, was picked up by a community development director who has since moved onto greener pasture.
His pitch was to make Main Street two lanes all the way to Louise Avenue with on-street parking added and extending the sidewalk into the street right-of-way where it narrowed south of Alameda Street and reduce or eliminate parking.
The idea was to encourage conversions of spaces with outdoor venues.
If I remember correctly, it was Bill Barnhardt who penned a letter to the editor questioning the appeal of sipping an ice tea or dining curbside at high noon on an August day headed for the 100-degree mark while swatting flies and enjoying the view of non-stop traffic on Main Street.
Out of the gate, the consulting firm in charge of the downtown specific plan provided clear evidence they were not going to be trying to pound the proverbial square peg that works in other places into the unique reality of Manteca.
The idea of sacrificing the municipal parking lot and the eastern end of the alley on to west side of the 100 block of North Main Street and wedding it with the asphalt lot the city is in the process of buying on the northeast corner of Yosemite Avenue and Main Street has appeal.
Not only is it the perfect high profile location, but it is large enough to design a gathering place with the ability to program events and activities to lure more people downtown.
And the fact the city is not going to leave downtown’s future to chance and is instead buying that asphalted lot and the adjoining IOOF Hall is another promising development.
The idea is to work with a private sector investor to transform the building into desired uses.
And by the city developing a high profile outdoor gathering place, it can provide a 1-2 punch to move downtown forward.
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
