Residents south of the 120 Bypass are getting their first fast food restaurant — a McDonald’s.

Plans have been submitted to the city for Manteca’s fifth McDonald’s restaurant.

It is the first permit application for the envisioned Marketplace & Main commercial development on the southwest corner of Atherton Drive and South Main Street.

It is Manteca’s second McDonald’s along the 120 Bypass corridor — the other is at Airport Way.

If you count the East Yosemite Avenue location off of Highway 99, three of the eventual five McDonald’s locations in Manteca are positioned to take advantage of freeway travelers.

The new McDonald’s location is likely to capitalize on its close proximity to Woodward Park that hosts a number of weekend soccer tournaments throughout the year.

If it opens a year from now when the city’s population is expected to reach 90,000, Manteca will have one McDonald’s for every 18,000 residents.

Based on current populations Tracy has four McDonald’s or one for every 22,800 residents and Stockton has 14 or one McDonald’s for every 23,000 residents.

Development plans for the 18.4-acre Marketplace at Main Retail Center was approved in May.

The California Gold  Development Corp. project includes a 40,000 square feet anchor tenant designed to snare a supermarket.

The junior anchor building is 45,000 square feet. That is more space than the primary tenant supermarket.

Among square footage requirements supermarket chains now have for new stores include:

*SaveMart with 40,000 to 45,000 square feet.

*Whole Foods stores are 25,000 to 50,000 square feet.

*Sprouts Farmers Markets stores such as the one that has just opened in Lathrop average 28,969 square feet.

*Safeway stores are 46,000 square feet. It is highly unlikely they’d build  a second store that close to their existing South Main store — or even abandon the location for a new store given it is next to Walmart that is a major traffic magnet.

*WinCo stores such as the one in Tracy average 70,000 to 90,000 square feet.

The Marketplace at Main Street  also has 25,000 square feet in additional retail and dining  space.

It includes three freestanding fast food-style restaurants with drive-thru lanes, a car wash, and two separate areas for small retail stores. The car wash would be located along South Main Street.

One of the two retail areas will be a freestanding building while the other will be between the supermarket and the junior tenant.

The city’s conditions of approval will allow Manteca officials to shut down the drive-thru lanes at any time  the queues of the fast food restaurant interferes with traffic on Main Street or Atherton Drive.

That will allow the city to avoid a repeat of the Chick-fil-A debacle at Yosemite Avenue and Northwoods.

The location for a retail is appealing not just because of existing development and close proximity to the 120 Bypass as well as being on the city’s main north-south arterial, but because the Griffin Park neighborhoods are now under construction on South Main that will add 1,301 households.

Improvements on

South Main Street

The traffic bottleneck on South Main Street from the 120 Bypass to Woodward Avenue will partially be improved by the Marketplace at Main project.

The developer is being required to acquire the right-of-way and then build two southbound lanes from Quintal Road to Atherton Drive as a condition of approval.

That is in addition to full-width street improvements along South Main Street that borders their property.

The developer, under city codes, has the option only to construct half width improvements south of Atherton Drive. If they go for that option they will still need to acquire the right-of-way on the city’s behalf for eventual widening of South Main.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com