The new, much-anticipated expansion of Turlock’s Monte Vista Crossings shopping center will open before Christmas, Turlock city staff said this week.
As part of a development agreement, Monte Vista Crossings developers Hall Equities Group must provide pads for the two anchor stores, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft, by April. That’s so the stores can be ready in time for the all-important holiday shopping season.
“It will all be open before Christmas,” said Maryn Pitt, Assistant to the City Manager for Housing and Ecomonic Development. “It’s a pretty fast schedule.”
To make that schedule feasible, the City of Turlock is “committed” to reviewing building plans as quickly as possible, Pitt said.
As previously reported, the 108,907 square-foot expansion of Monte Vista Crossings is scheduled to break ground on Feb. 15. Phase II of Monte Vista Crossings will be constructed just south of Kohl's and The Olive Garden, in the square of land bordered by Highway 99, Countryside Drive, and Tuolumne Road.
In addition to the two anchors, the development has been confirmed to include the following: a Tilly’s surf and skate apparel store; a Kirkland’s home décor store; a Maurice’s women’s clothing shop; a Justice and Brothers tween apparel location; and, a factory-owned Sprint cellphone shop. The development will also include six currently unidentified stores and a restaurant.
Pitt noted that Turlock’s trade area now exceeds 300,000 people, not including the populations of Merced and Modesto. She said that Turlock’s centralized location could be a boon to future development, as retailers look to site stores in between the two population centers to pull from a larger area.
“You can start to see, obviously, we’re becoming more regional,” Pitt said.
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I’d like to suggest a few stores we could use in Turlock: Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and maybe even an IKEA as the closest one is 2 hrs away as is the nearest Whole Foods. Having a Trader Joes would just save me many trips to Modesto! I’m sure I’m not the only mom who would wish to have these in the Central Valley.
To make that schedule feasible, the City of Turlock is “committed” to reviewing building plans as quickly as possible, Pitt said.
[b]Interpretation[/b], this means that every other plan check will be put on the back burner and this project be put first in line for plan check review as directed by upper management, standard procedure if you are a nobody in this town, fact!
Actually, they will probably do in-house plan checks to speed up the review process. The city normally sends all incoming project plans to a third party that they have a contract with (as with most cities and counties). That is why it takes about 4-6 weeks to receive back a plan check on any project. The city does have the means to check a limited number of plan in-house but does not particularly like to.
Has Turlock replaced their senior building inspector that recently retired? How can they do a fast track without the inspector, when they take forever on other projects when fully staffed, including out of county plan checks. Not to mention issuing conflicting approvals and inspections after plans have been approved and construction has been done! This costs the builder $$$ when they do plan reversals midstream. The shopping center is on a very fast track for whatever reasons; the lots have been vacant for years so it has to be tax revenue they are hungry for.
What would really help is if they would hire a qualified building official that meets all of the requirements C.A.L.B.O.
The Building Department went down hill after the genocide of 2009.
How do I apply for a job for the new stores?