The largest developable parcel in Central Manteca could end up playing a pivotal role in establishing a city center of sorts.

It may accommodate a “generational center” — a combined library and community center — coupled with multi-story affordable housing within easy walking of the downtown transit center that will have ACE rail service by the end of 2026.

And it could happen along Manteca’s most consequential north-south corridor — Main Street.

The property in question is the 8 acres at 682 South Main Street the city bought for $1.5 million in 2021. It was acquired for a homeless navigation center and a potential affordable housing complex.

The city in the coming months will determine the exact acreage needed for the navigation center that will be accessed from Carnegie Court and secured by a 6-foot masonry wall.

The recent Supreme Court decision, the number of homeless actually accessing the temporary shelter at 555 Industrial Park Drive, and the fact  the navigation center won’t be a drop-in shelter but a tightly programmed endeavor to transition willing participants off the street means less land than originally envisioned is likely needed for the homeless.

What that means is simple.

The navigation center may be more than adequate with housing at any given time for 100 or less homeless individuals — single men, single women, and families.

The environmental documents that are a prerequisite for developing the land was based on a maximum of 238 beds. That the highest number the environmental study was based on.

That number was  used in the “very preliminary” concept on how the site could be developed.

If the final number of beds needed is significantly less such as 100, the city would be able to rethink how best to serve the greater Manteca community when it comes to the part of the parcel that would remain fronting Main Street.

“It’s a great location,” said Manteca Mayor Gary Singh.

And it is also a rare opportunity for a growing city to have ready-to-develop vacant  land that close to their downtown that they own.

Absolute top priority is

homeless navigation center

Singh made it clear that first and foremost the city’s top priority for the land is developing the navigation center to help transition the homeless off the streets as well as improve the community’s overall quality of life.

The city has amassed more than $20 million from state and federal sources to break ground in 2025 on a homeless navigation center. That includes a $16 million state grant — the largest grant Manteca has ever received — that Singh played an instrumental role in securing.

At the same time the city understands how the 8-acre’s frontage along South Main Street is developed could be a major game changer.

The original concept was for the front portion to have affordable housing with retail/commercial space on the bottom floors.

It is a combo the city no longer believes would be the most beneficial to the community.

“(We) don’t want the city competing with downtown or the Mission Ridge Shopping Center,” the mayor said in terms of filling retail space.

The parcel is two blocks from the downtown core and is almost directly across the northern half of the Mission Ridge Shopping Center.

Singh is promoting a vision that could see the front portion of 682 South Main — already envisioned for multi-story buildings — still feature affordable housing.

Synergy & maximizing

the available funding

But instead of retail, the concept of a generational center is being explored.

It would create synergy by melding two concepts together — a library and community center.

Modern day libraries in the Bay Area that are designed as holistic learning centers featuring maker spaces and such draw a wider cross-section of patrons including younger people.

A community center, which may or may not include a gym as a component, can be used for a wide variety of recreation opportunities spanning the spectrum from classes such as for dancing and art to exercise and dance offerings.

And by thinking generational, Singh believes it will provide the city with more options to serve the entire community ranging from young people to senior centers.

It would also allow the city to create space that both a library and community could utilize.

As such it could maximize amenities while making more effective use of construction as well as maintenance and operations dollars.

Singh noted the parcel is within two blocks of two major transit points in Manteca.

The hub for Manteca and regional bus routes at the transit center that will soon have ACE rail passenger service to the north and the park-and-ride lot along Main in front of Walmart that is used by buses ferrying Tesla workers to Fremont and San Joaquin Regional Transit commute service to the Livermore Lab.

As such they are within easy walking distance of residents of future affordable housing.

Also, such development of 8 acres would lead to a Manteca Transit stop.

In addition, Singh said it would bring a community center to the central district.

The city is already collecting government facility fees on new development that includes a community center and library.

The nexus for those growth fees listed Moffat Boulevard as a “holding site” for a community center given the city already owns land on that corridor.

The funding could easily be used to develop a community center at 682 South Main.

Since the city already owns the land and basic infrastructure is already in place to connect with the site, it would eliminate those two big cost items.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com