It’s been more than a decade since longtime NFL announcer Pat Summerall made a promotional video advertising the strengths of what was then a small city along Interstate 5 called Lathrop. 

But 2018 was the year that many of the things that Summerall advertised in the video – the city’s close proximity to urban centers and its easy freeway access points, for example – emerged as the driving forces behind a growth explosion that will forever alter the landscape of the city and South San Joaquin County as a whole. 

While it was River Islands that lit the fuse on a residential growth boom that will grow the city’s population by leaps and bounds, it was the city’s active work in appealing to light industrial and warehousing operations that helped solidify big name tenants like Kraft-Heinz, In-N-Out Burger, JC Penney, Home Depot and Food 4 Less over the last 10 years. 

But in just the last 12 months, the city has landed an Ashley Furniture warehouse and retail outlet and announced that discount furniture entity Wayfair would anchor one of the multiple million-square-foot buildings that were approved this year for along the western edge of the Highway 120 Bypass near the intersection with Interstate 5. 

The driving force behind the light industrial and warehouse growth will be a pair of developments – the Lathrop Gateway Business Center and the South Lathrop Commerce Center – that will each have multiple buildings in excess of 1 million-square-feet, and will add another 10 million-square-feet of warehouse space to a city that has already snapped up one of the hottest tech companies in the world as well a UPS distribution center in the last few years. 

With Tracy I-205 corridor filling up with warehouse space and massive buildings being built on spec popping up all over the South County, the growth will provide not only jobs to local cities and residents but also tax revenue that will help fund amenities that will bolster the city’s existing services.

Fire facility fees, for example, that have been collected on new warehouse development as well as new residential home construction, has already paid for the city’s first official fire truck. A second will be purchased once River Islands hits a rooftop benchmark, and together the pieces of apparatus will allow the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District to serve not only the massive concrete tilt-up buildings that would require an aerial attack, but also residential homes and apartment buildings. 

The Lathrop City Council will review elements of the Lathrop Gateway project, which will be located on the northern side of the Highway 120 Bypass, next year. The South Lathrop Commerce Center has already received the blessing of the council. 

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