Manteca Unified is buying the former manufacturing facility of an environmentally friendly container firm to secure needed warehouse space.
The board Thursday authorized the purchase of the 58,500 square-foot building at 550 Carnegie Street in the Manteca Industrial Park for $6.75 million.
It backs up to 555 Industrial Park Drive, the former Qualex building that includes the parking lot where the City of Manteca is operating its “temporary” emergency homeless shelter.
It is the same property the school district has been trying unsuccessfully to buy since 2018.
That’s when then City Manager Tim Ogden conveyed the commitment of elected municipal leaders at the time to sell the property to the school district.
The city doesn’t legally own the property.
Instead, it is former Manteca Redevelopment Agency property that the local RDA declared surplus.
State mandated city’s RDA to sell
555 Industrial Park 12 years ago
It was part of a liquidation process for surplus RDA property up and down the state that the California Legislature ordered sold in 2012.
Now, 12 years later after apparently every other RDA in California has complied with state law, Manteca still hasn’t sold the property at 555 Industrial Park Drive.
And based on communications as part of the negotiations process, the city has no intent to abandon its use of the property until at least 2033.
That’s based on the city’s position that if they were to agree to essentially comply with state law and agree to sell it to Manteca Unified. But the city doesn’t want the sale to take place for at least seven years or possibly nine years at the most.
A such, it raises a serious question about Manteca’s commitment to build a homeless navigation center at 620 South Main Street. They are sitting on close to $18 million in state and federal funds to build the complex.
City using successor agency
to string along school district
The city is able to string the school district along between because they essentially have control of the RDA successor agency whose stated mission is to oversee the disposal of RDA property that wasn’t substantially committed to a project in 2012.
The idea of an emergency homeless center was not even being considered in 2012 when the issue of homelessness did not even register as a city concern, let alone a top priority.
The other function of the successor agency is to make sure outstanding RDA bonds are retired.
The successor agency is not supposed to exist to essentially allow the city to subsidize municipal services.
Nor is the city paying market rent to the successor agency that could use such revenue to help pay down outstanding bonds that a large swath of Manteca property owners were encumbered to retire without any input at the ballot box by previous city councils that did double duty as “separate” RDA commissioners.
The district intends to continue to press for the sale of 555 Industrial which, under RDA law, they have a 51 percent interest of ownership due to how such agencies were set up.
That means the city essentially is working against the best interests of the district that is for all practical purposes the majority legal owner of the property taken over by the city from the successor agency as an emergency homeless shelter.
School district strategy
based on saving tax dollars
The 55,000 square-foot former Qualex building, just like the Ecologic building purchase, would save taxpayers significant money if the school district obtained it.
The school district in 2019 was paying $16,092 a month to rent warehouse space in the business park immediately to the west of the MUSD complex on Louise Avenue.
Several years ago when the lease came up for renewal, the district — assuming the city was negotiating in good faith — renewed the lease for a shorter time period.
They are now paying $29,052.
While not paying rent is significant and in the long-term save the district money, the district is also running out of warehouse space.
The district is now at 25,200 students and growing as Manteca, as well as Lathrop, keeps building houses.
In the 12-month period ending June 30, Manteca issued permits to build 978 single family homes.
Nutrition services has storage in two places — a refrigerated facility at the district complex and a dry goods warehouse in the business park next door.
The current warehouses for curriculum related items — books and such — and one for other items needed districtwide from toilet paper to cleaning products — are nearing capacity.
To build a 19,000 square-foot warehouse, it would cost the district $14 million.
In doing so they’d only have roughly 40 percent of the space of either the former Ecologic facility or the Qualex building.
The district has $13 million in restricted capital funds that can go toward buying and remodeling warehouse space.
That includes a $2 million grant from the state for nutrition education related projects.
The district plans to centralize all of its nutritional service administration and warehouses in the Manteca Industrial Park.
It is similar to what the district has done with its maintenance operations and health services at the former Lindbergh School campus on North Street.
The district is still pursuing the Qualex building as it would be able to locate all warehouse operations in one place and create a synergy that can further reduce operating costs.
It will also free up space at the district office complex.
Ironically, Ecologic was among the firms in the industrial park that had issues with the emergency homeless shelter being located at 555 Industrial Park Drive.
In group and individual meetings prior to the pandemic, the city implied it was only temporary until such time they could get infrastructure extended to the 680 Main Street site.
At that time they indicated when they were trying to quell the controversy surrounding what was then the emergency warming and cooling shelter, that the facilities at the Qualex location would be moved to the site where the homeless navigation center is being built as soon as possible.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
