New restaurants, businesses building in Merced

A number of restaurants and retail spots continue to chug along in Merced, including a more than 75-acre retail center that’s months away from going before the City Council.

Activity on Olive Avenue has been visible for weeks as crews cleared abandoned office buildings to make way for a 12,900-square-foot CVS Pharmacy and a 2,200-square-foot Starbucks with a drive-thru. Crews this week were rearranging the dirt, according to Kim Espinosa, Merced’s planning manager.

“It looks like they’re probably ready to build,” she said on Wednesday.

In the city’s downtown, the Merced Poker Room has moved, and developers are working to tie up any loose ends before the former home on Martin Luther King Jr. Way is razed, Espinosa said. A Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is set to go up there.

The Arco, KFC and Steak ‘n Shake planned on Childs Avenue, where Century Bowl once stood, is expected to break ground in the coming months, according to city staffers. “They’d like to get started soon,” Espinosa said.

A vacant, roughly 22,000-square-foot retail space at Main and R streets is set to be a Rockin’ Jump trampoline park, according to CEO Drew Wilson. It was originally estimated to open in the spring, but has not opened its doors.

The sign has gone up outside the park, according to Frank Quintero, Merced economic development director. “People are starting to see that this is a real project,” he said.

The shopping center has gotten less attention than many others but is active, according to Quintero. Also planned there is a Fitness Evolution gym.

Quintero and other city staff recently returned from a retailer convention. They expect four to six tours of Merced by interested retailers in the next two months, he said.

The former Starbucks building on Main Street has begun improvements by a new developer, he said, adding it’s common for projects to take 12 to 18 months to open after being unveiled.

One of the city’s top priorities, the 77-acre Merced Gateways, could go before the council in August. The project includes more than 600,000 square feet of retail space toward the eastern edge of town as well as room for about 180 apartments, according to plans.

“We’re all working to get that finalized,” Espinosa said. “That’s been a long time coming.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2017 at 7:50 AM with the headline "New restaurants, businesses building in Merced."