Cookies, ramen, chicken restaurants, more coming to Riverbank’s Crossroads complex
If you’re a fan of big cookies, fresh ramen and crazy chicken, you’re going to like the new restaurants coming to Riverbank’s popular Crossroads shopping center.
The bustling Claribel Road retail complex is adding Crumbl Cookies, Ramen 101 and El Pollo Loco. Work on a new Mister Car Wash is also well underway at the site.
The new additions will finish the build-out of the Riverbank complex, which saw its first store open in 2005 and has been a consistently strong regional shopping draw ever since. The new chain of eateries bring the center almost to full capacity, with only a couple of vacant retail spaces left to fill.
Will Bettencourt, leasing representative for Browman Development Company which manages and operates Crossroads, called the mix of new tenants “exciting.” The El Pollo Loco, which will be new, ground-up construction, will be built on the center’s last available empty pad of land, next to the free-standing Red Robin restaurant.
“We’re really excited about the new tenants,” Bettencourt said. “With El Pollo Loco, everything will be built out and done. It took several years, but it’ll be all built now.”
The first of the new tenants to open should be the Mister Car Wash, which is under construction on a pad facing Claribel Road, next to the America’s Tire. Bettencourt said the new car wash could open in the next two months or so. The national company bought and took over valley-based chain Prime Shine in late 2018 and continues to expand its footprint locally.
Second Crumbl Cookies in Stanislaus County to open
After Mister Car Wash, the next new business to open in the center should be Crumbl Cookies. The fast-growing cookie chain opened its first California location last June in Turlock’s Monte Vista Crossings shopping center.
Local franchise owners John and Jill Gauthier have been busy opening new Crumbl locations across the state and beyond since. The husband-and-wife team are also major Little Caesars Pizza franchise owners, having opened the first Modesto location in 1990 and with around 50 currently across several states.
The Gauthiers have opened Crumbl locations in Clovis and Elk Grove, among others, and more are planned for Lodi and Fresno soon. They expect to have about 18 locations total when they’re finished expanding. The Riverbank site in Crossroads will take the space of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, next to the Panda Express on the west end of the complex. They hope to have the cookie shop open by June 30.
With new Crumbl Cookies in Turlock and soon Riverbank, a Modestan can start to feel positively left out. But, fear not, John Gauthier said he is very close to signing a lease for a space for the cookie-by-the-dozen shop in Modesto as well. So gird your waistlines, folks, you might need it with the company’s promise of hot, fresh cookie delivery.
The two other new additions to Crossroads have signed leases but are only in the early stages of development. The new Ramen 101, a Northern California chain which specializes in the Japanese noodles soup as well as Hawaiian BBQ dishes, will move into the opposite east end of the complex, in the former Planet Beach tanning parlor.
Ramen 101 has about a dozen restaurants in the Bay Area and Sacramento region. The Riverbank spot will be its first in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and Stanislaus County. The closest current locations are in Dublin and Elk Grove. Bettencourt said he thinks the eatery could be ready by the end of the year.
And, finally, Mexican-style grilled chicken chain El Pollo Loco will also be opening its first restaurant in Riverbank. The company has sites in Modesto and Turlock already. Bettencourt said permits have been submitted to the city for the new build, and the new restaurant with an attached drive-thru could be open by year’s end as well, depending on the construction schedule.
That leaves less than a handful of vacant spaces in the 600,000-square-foot regional shopping center, including the space between Kohl’s and Famous Footwear that used to be the home of Justice. The tween girl clothing seller is in bankruptcy proceedings.
Search for major Crossroads West anchor underway
As the original Crossroads nears full capacity, Bettencourt and the Browman Development team are working on lining up anchors for the planned Crossroads West shopping center across Oakdale Road from the existing complex.
The new development will include a large housing subdivision, parks and the retail complex, which will sit on the northwest corner of Oakdale and Claribel roads. Work began in March on the new homes, and models are expected to be completed by July.
Bettencourt said they are “very early” in the leasing process for the new 555,000-square-foot center. He said they’ve fielded some preliminary interest already, and hope within six months to announce a major anchor tenant and then perhaps start construction shortly afterward.
He said as the housing project to the north of the retail development starts to fill in, so should interest in the complex.
“The more they build, the easier it will be for us to get people to sign onto the project,” he said. “(The existing) Crossroads has been one of our better centers across the Central Valley, Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. We continue to have interest and see that carrying over (to Crossroads West).”
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
