Downtown Merced will have two Starbucks stores

Construction on new downtown stores is moving along and a number of empty buildings around Merced are filling up, according to city staffers.

Perhaps the most visible work is on 16th Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Canal Street, where the relatively new Family Dollar will get bookends of a 10,140-square-foot Les Schwab Tire Center and a 2,200-square-foot Starbucks with a drive-thru, according to city records.

Frank Quintero, the director of economic development, said he sees the construction as a sign of an improving economic outlook in Merced. “We’re building momentum, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.

He said downtown regulars of the Main Street Starbucks, about 1,000 feet away, should not fear the new coffee spot. The location with the drive-thru and the pedestrian-friendly downtown spot can draw in different clients, and they can coexist.

“What we have heard is that they are staying,” Quintero said. “It’s two different clientele.”

Starbucks officials did not return a request for comment on the plans Friday. Officials have said in the past they had no intentions of closing the Main Street store.

The Starbucks on 16th Street will look similar to the one near Childs Avenue, which shares a structure with two smaller retailers. The 16th Street corner also used to be home to BMC West Building Materials until it was knocked down in 2013 after more than five years as an empty eyesore.

The Promenade, which is on Yosemite Avenue and Paulson Road, is also seeing work because of upgrades to the standing structures. Thai Cuisine II is expanding, Quintero said, and a new restaurant called Bobcat Diner will be moving in.

“They’re filling in existing spaces,” he said. “That’s what we’re seeing happen a lot. The people that we’re talking to, they’re looking more for existing space.”

Quintero noted that the retail spaces at G Street and Alexander Avenue have also filled up after being empty for some time. Crews also are adding a 3,495-square-foot drive-thru car wash accompanied by an 850-square-foot retail or office building to that shopping center just north of Park Avenue, according to city records.

“The recovery has, I won’t say it’s in full swing, but has definitely kicked off first in the Bay Area and the larger metropolitan areas,” Quintero said. “Now we’re beginning to see it come to the Valley.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 6:54 PM with the headline "Downtown Merced will have two Starbucks stores."