Construction of office in Merced begins

A 12,000-square-foot office building is going up on Park Avenue in Merced to accommodate the specifications of a yet-to-be-disclosed tenant, according to city staff.

The shell of the building is up on the 2000 block of Park Avenue, a short stretch of road between G Street and West Alexander Avenue. A small crew fastened the rafters together Thursday.

The structure sits among several other professional office buildings on that street, which is also home to apartment buildings.

“It’s a good addition to that area (with) nice architecture that fits in,” said David Gonzalves, director of development services for Merced. “There’s room in the back area of this parcel for two additional office buildings.”

The site was approved for an office building more than a decade ago, he said, but never had an interested developer until recently. The office complex is owned by Tim Razzari, the owner of Merced’s Razzari Motors.

Gonzalves said the building would be leased out to a company, but the identity of the tenant who will lease the building is not public information.

“The owner’s building a shell and the tenant’s coming in with what we call ‘tenant improvement plans,’” he said. “And they haven’t submitted those yet.”

Just around the corner from the office building, a carwash is planned on G Street just north of Park Avenue. The Merced City Council approved that project in December.

According to city records, the plan allows for construction of a 3,495-square-foot drive-through carwash accompanied by an 850-square-foot retail or office building.

This story was originally published July 3, 2015 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Construction of office in Merced begins."