Manteca’s first medical offices south of the 120 Bypass broke ground Friday.

The 17,000-square-foot location that will provide primary care, imaging and lab services at Orchard Valley near JC Penney is part of a major undertaking by Sutter Health to bring healthcare services closer to communities in the rapidly growing Northern San Joaquín Valley.

“Our Manteca location is perfectly suited for health care services and creates the ability for Sutter to bring more to our community members with convenience in mind,” said Amber Campbell, ambulatory CEO for Sutter Health’s Greater Central Valley.

The free-standing building will accommodate 14 physicians with a healthcare support staff of 30 to 40 employees

“More and more people are calling Manteca home, and with that growth comes the need for expanded services like health care,’ noted Manteca Mayor Gaery Singh. “Sutter Health is helping enhance our community by offering convenient and high-quality care at this new location.”

The health care center is targeted to open in spring of 2025.

Future plans include having additional specialty care services such as Ob/Gyn and orthopedics.

Sutter Health will retain its current location at 165 St. Dominic’s Drive near Kaiser Hospital.

Once the Orchard Valley location is opened, Sutter Health will convert its space on St. Domnic’s Drive into a behavioral health care center to meet the growing demand for such services.

Altogether, Sutter Health is pursuing 32 projects in the Central Valley to step up and expand services provided to various communities

“People want to access health care near where they live,” Campbell noted.

As such, the expansion will position Sutter Health to capitalize on South County growth — Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy and Mountain House for the past six years have been perennially been one of the top three fastest growing region in California.

It also will give existing residents options as more and more long-time medical providers in the region are retiring.

 “Gould Medical Group (the health care arm of Sutter Health) is doing a phenomenal job recruiting and welcoming new physicians into their group, so we have opportunities to add new care space in our current locations to enable them to build for their practices,” Campbell added.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com