Manteca could be the only city closing in on 90,000 residents on the planet that is book-ended by two major U-Haul facilities.

These aren’t the gas station rental locations of yesteryear. One is in an expansive 1980s era former GMC-Buick-Pontiac dealership and the other is a 107,000-square-foot 1990s-era shuttered Kmart.

The decision by U-Haul to double down on Manteca didn’t happen by accident.

A couple of years ago U-Haul sent out a press release that proclaimed Manteca the moving capital of the country.

Rest assured this wasn’t a study they commissioned. Just like Costco and other firms track the buying habits of their customers so does U-Haul.

Although I’m not privy to the ins and outs of their analysis, it likely showed that Manteca is at the epicenter of moving that makes gypsies of European lore seem like rank amateurs.

Manteca and Tracy not only were the third fastest growing cities over 30,000 population in California during 2020, but if you take out statistical bleeps such as communities repopulating after being burned to the ground courtesy of wildfires started by PG&E equipment Lathrop was the fastest growing city in the Golden State in 2020.

Ripon was the fastest growing city under 20,000 if you take out a town of 800 that added a 180-home subdivision.

Rest assured Mountain House — the highly touted answer to affordable housing when it broke ground two decades ago and where the majority of resales and almost all new tract homes are today fetching more than $1 million — ranks right up there in growth.

With Manteca in the middle, it makes sense U-Haul would have acquired the former GMC dealership on the main artery that the 120 Bypass is for the region to locate a service and maintenance center for its fleet of rental trucks as rent storage space and rent trucks.

All of the jacked-up demand for rental trucks is powered by the ever-expanding Bay Area economy is the reason Manteca and surrounding communities that include Modesto, Stockton, Patterson, and Turlock are the runaway leading housing solutions for the job-rich, dwelling-tight San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland axis.

The K-mart building purchase that will allow the firm to rent more than 800 indoor and outdoor storage spaces reflects another unique Manteca market dynamic.

Yes, people have more stuff than they can jam into where they are living or need a place to store the stuff between “permanent” housing situations.

That’s “permanent” because based on American Community Survey data  compiled by the Census the typical American moves 11.7 times in their lifetime. There is not data readily available but the odds are the average Californian moves even more frequently and probably those in the Bay Area sphere of influence even more so than California as a whole.

At any rate, an informal Bulletin survey of self-storage firms in Manteca 12 years ago revealed almost 30 percent of their clients that rented space lived west of the Altamont Pass.

If that sounds a bit questionable, the reasons mini-storage operators gave for the trend made it more than plausible.

*Existing mini-storage complexes in the Bay Area were being sold to accommodate development of office buildings, commercial, and housings. Mini-storage use is an excellent “holding pattern investment” for land where your money can generate income with little operating expenses while waiting for the big pay day.

*Likewise, building new mini-storage complexes in the Bay Area are quite expensive due to land costs.

*A lot of people in the Bay Area pass through Manteca to head to the Sierra with enough frequency that it was convenient to rent storage units here.

That is the same market forces that prompted the late Bob Davis of Manteca Trailer fame to build Northern California’s first condo RV and boat storage on East Highway 120 just outside of Manteca. The idea was to sell separate covered and secured units along with a maintenance contract to Bay Area residents that spent a lot of time enjoying the Sierra or even outdoor options in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, the Tahoe area or in the north state.

The idea was to store their RVs and boats plus assorted equipment for their excursions in lower-cost space that was centrally located to their weekend or vacation wanderings.

That allowed them to drive to Manteca, switch vehicles and leave the car they drove here if they didn’t need it in secure storage. When they were ready to go home, they reversed the process. It allowed for lower storage costs and depending upon where they live in the Bay Area up to 200 miles of wear and tear of expensive RVs along with fuel savings.

This is why a storage facility for more than 500 boats and RVs moving forward at Woodward Avenue and Atherton Drive by the city’s water storage tank makes a lot of sense.

And it is why no less than five new mini-storage complexes — including the U-Haul conversion of  the old Kmart — with an excess of adding more than 2,400 storage units to the existing Manteca inventory have secured approval to move toward construction.

Manteca isn’t just the affordable housing answer for the Bay Area. It is also the answer to where they can store their excessive stuff.

A lot of us who don’t look out-of-the-box or fail to understood the lifestyles and spending patterns of others often times do not mirror that of our families, neighbors, and friends act as if the world has gone nuts.

An indoor water park as a destination resort in Manteca. Crazy.
Million-dollar resale homes and $800,000 new tract homes affordable? Sheer madness.

Six 7-Elevens in Manteca including three within 1 ½ miles of each other? Ridiculous.

More mini-storage units than Ripon has houses? Moronic.

You add warnings such as they are going to go bust and there is no way what is being built is sustainable from a business or economic standpoint.

These people aren’t spending million upon millions of dollars — it can take north of $1.5 million to get a 7-Eleven with gas pumps built and then up and running — because they have more cash than they know what to do with or are reckless speculators.

They have a firm grasp on the strategic economic value of Manteca.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com