What’s coming to new construction projects underway in Modesto? New restaurants, more
When it comes to the best laid plans in 2020, well, they’re all basically shot. Still, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and everything else this year has thrown at us, work continues on planned retail projects across the city.
New construction is underway on a handful of commercial developments in Modesto, prompting my favorite reader question, “Hey, what’s going up over there?”
In north Modesto, across from the Kaiser Permanente hospital on Dale Road, crews have been busy on several developments in the city’s planned Kiernan Business Park, which has been under development for years. The new construction includes The Brass Tap, a national chain of brewpubs, which will open its first Northern San Joaquin Valley location later this year.
Husband-and-wife Modesto-based franchisees Rick and Kathy Sousa have been working on the development for two years now. But the pandemic complicated things, slowing down work. The new restaurant, which will have 60 taps for craft beer, had originally been slated to open in late 2019.
With the construction slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, those plans got pushed back. But now the from the ground up construction is nearing the final stages of exterior work and is on track for a November opening — by Thanksgiving at the latest.
Once open, The Brass Tap will be one of three franchise locations in the state, with another in the works in Fresno. The restaurant will have capacity for about 100 inside, and another 20 in its outdoor patio. Sousa said he and his wife decided not to change their approved blueprints to expand the outdoor seating in light of the pandemic and its safety precautions, betting instead that the strictest restrictions will have passed by the time they open.
“Our approach, since we’ve already committed to the project, is that we do believe things will return to some type of normal and we want to be there when it happens,” said Rick Sousa.
More The Brass Tap brewpubs coming
The Sousas have signed on to open five The Brass Tap locations across the state, with eyes on possible locations in Manteca, Tracy and elsewhere in Stanislaus County. But, work on those will have to wait until after their north Modesto site is complete and they see how things are progressing with the pandemic and economy.
On the same parcel as The Brass Tap, plans are in the works for a gas station and other retail space, though construction has not begun yet on either.
Also in the Kiernan Business Park, construction work continues on a 22-unit luxury apartment complex from local developer JKB Living going up just south of El Rio and The Park, two senior living facilities. Permits have also been approved, but not pulled yet, for another 6,846 square-foot retail complex across the street from The Brass Tap that could include another gas station and another restaurant.
Staying in northwest Modesto, on Pelandale Avenue work is nearly complete on a planned stand-alone coffee shop in front of the new Valley Children’s outpatient clinic. I’ve received a ton of inquiries about what is moving into the space and, drum roll please, it’s another Starbucks.
City of Modesto spokesman Thomas Reeves said the project includes the 2,455 square-foot Starbucks with drive-thru service as well as approvals for four medical office buildings totaling some 16,750 square feet on a 2.4 acre site. So expect to see more work there to come.
Traveling east through Modesto, you may have noticed a building going up next to the World of Wheels bike shop and the newly built Standiford Veterinary Center on Standiford Avenue. That will be a professional office building with multiple tenants, though so far the one confirmed occupant will be an insurance office.
The Marketplace center sees new construction
And then, across town in northeast Modesto, work is well underway to expand The Marketplace, the new shopping center at the corner of Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue. The center’s anchor, the flagship Save Mart supermarket which opened last October, will be joined by a new 12,000 square-foot building going up now.
Tom Solomon of CoSol Commercial Real Estate, which is handling leasing for the center’s property owner and developer, Berberian Holdings, said the new construction is part of the center’s phased expansion which will ultimately result in a 78,000-square-foot retail strip facing Oakdale Road. So far a 17,500-square-foot section of that strip has been completed already, but no other tenants have moved into the complex yet.
The completed building does have tenants attached though. They are La Parilla (a local Mexican restaurant which has two other locations in Modesto and Riverbank), The Pho (a new upscale Vietnamese restaurant), Kids Care Dental & Orthodontics (a dental care company based out of the Sacramento region), and My Eye Lab (a national eye-care chain specializing in exams and glasses).
Permits have been issued for all the new businesses, except The Pho which just submitted last month, and some have started build outs already. But no opening timetable is available yet. Solomon said there has been interest in the new 12,000-square-foot building being constructed now, but no lease has been signed yet either. So stay tuned, as always, and keep a lookout for new construction.
