The City of Lathrop has granted nearly $101,000 to 37 households that applied for assistance because of impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.

And more than 60 businesses have received $500,000 in funding to help offset the economic impacts of shelter-in-place orders and mandatory closures intended to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

Those figures were revealed to the Lathrop City Council this week in a presentation about the city’s ongoing efforts with economic development – aiming to attract businesses to the growing community that has been using its location along California’s arterial interstate and proximity to nearby highways to attract warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and jobs.

According to the presentation Lathrop issued 649 single family building permits last year and 177 multi-family permits. While the city’s single-family residential has been growing leaps and bounds for the better part of a decade, two apartment projects – the 146-unit Towne Centre Apartments near City Hall and the 204-unit Mossdale Apartments – have been approved and will soon provide alternative housing to help meet the demand in the South County.

Last year River Islands successfully sold 640 homes while Stanford Crossing – which is being constructed in the Central Lathrop area on the footprint of the failed Richland development that bordered Lathrop High School – has sold 156 homes since the sales office opened in May of 2020.

And warehouses continue to be a hot commodity in Lathrop with more than 2 million square feet of space currently under construction – including 1.4 million square feet of space in the Tri-Point Logistics Center located along Yosemite Avenue west of McKinley Avenue, and nearly 1 million square feet of space in the Lathrop Gateway Business Park located just south of Yosemite Avenue.

In order to meet the demand of new residents, other businesses have started moving into the community as well. According to the presentation, a Dutch Bros. Coffee location and a Sonic Drive-In are currently under construction, as are a Blue Wave Express Car Wash and a Chevron station. Kaiser Permanente, Tru by Hilton, and Ashley Furniture Industries are also going to be joining the city relatively soon.

And Lathrop’s unemployment rate, at 7.9 percent for 2020, is nearly a full point beneath California’s 8.8 percent and more than 1.5 points beneath the national average of 10.6 percent.

To obtain a copy of the presentation that was made to the council, or to view anything else that was on the agenda, visit the City of Lathrop’s website at www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.