These national chains are being built in new Ceres Gateway. Here’s when they’ll open
After almost a decade and a half of planning, the new Ceres Gateway Center is taking shape and construction is well underway on a handful of new national restaurant chains coming to the city.
What was for years a vacant, dusty field has seen standalone structures spring up this year for the retail center project, which was approved in 2008 and has taken 14 years to become a reality. Construction continues apace on the southwest corner of Mitchell and Service roads, across from the also long-planned new Walmart Supercenter, which opened last fall.
Framing and construction started in April on a new Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ono Hawaiian BBQ and Starbucks coming to the shopping center. More recently, framing work also began on a new In-N-Out, which will be the popular West Coast burger chain’s first Ceres location and fourth site in Stanislaus County. Modesto and Turlock are the other two cities with In-N-Outs.
The Starbucks is being built along Mitchell Road, and the In-N-Out is going up at the intersection corner, with Ono and Chipotle under construction along Service headed west from the intersection, respectively.
Ceres Community Development Director Christopher Hoem said the anticipated opening dates for the new chain eateries will be between December this year and March 2023.
The retail development first was proposed by Modesto-based attorney Ralph C. Ogden III. Ceres approved his plans in 2008, but the project stalled with the recession and its permits expired four years later. Ogden passed away in 2017, but his son Daniel Ogden revived the plans, which were approved in early 2020. Ground broke on the site late last year.
The new project plan includes spaces for nine retail buildings, a hotel and a convenience store with a gas station and car wash.
Work on the development will be done in phases, with the first including the majority of the restaurants, gas station and car wash. Permits are under review for the new Quick Quack car wash coming to the center, which should be the next construction project to start work shortly, Hoem said.
After that, expect a 76 gas station with an as-yet-undetermined attached convenience store and then a new Popeyes Louisiana Chicken restaurant. The fried chicken chain already has one location in Ceres on Hatch Road. The two new buildings recently started the planning permit process, and if approved are expected to commence construction at the end of this year or early next year, Hoem said.
One more also as-yet-undetermined standalone quick-service restaurant with a drive-thru is planned for the development as part of its first phase.
Phase two will likely start sometime in 2023 and includes the hotel project. But that plan was paused earlier this year because the site is not zoned for a building of that height.
The City Council recently amended the commercial site plan, allowing for buildings of up to 50 feet. And since then, extended-stay brand Woodspring Suites has applied to build a four-story, approximately 51,600-square-foot hotel with about 122 rooms at the site. Hoem said the permit is under review and construction should begin after approval.
The second phase also includes the construction of two junior box stores, which would be built amid the fast-food sites and hotel. Hoem said no applications have been filed for those projects yet.
Once completed, the Gateway Center and new Walmart should combine to create a potent new commercial corridor for the city along its southern edge.
Over at one of the city’s busiest already existing shopping corridors on Hatch Road, work should start soon on new developments that will transform the former vacant Kmart. Plans were approved last fall for the project, which will turn the existing box store space into a Public Storage self-storage facility. In front of that, right along Hatch, will be a new a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant, Dutch Bros Coffee kiosk and Quik Stop convenience store/gas station.
Hoem said both the Raising Cane’s and Dutch Bros are in the permitting process, and are both close to completing their review. After that expect to see construction start on both establishments.
This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 9:15 AM.
