Lodi leaders highlight economic opportunities

A community college or satellite campus, affordable housing and undeveloped sites in Lodi are opportunities the city should take advantage of if it wants to spark economic growth in the future, according to city officials.

The Lodi City Council received a presentation of the draft “Grow in Lodi” development prospectus for 2021, a document that will act as a “pre-qualification statement” for the city to attract capital and investors from across the Central Valley and Bay Area regions.

Astrida Trupovnieks, the city’s business development manager, said Lodi has a handful of “catalytic development opportunities, including attracting a community college or a satellite from an existing campus.

In the 2018-19 fiscal year, a community college added $572.3 million to the region it served and 6,897 jobs, according to he research.

In addition, the average community college payroll for that fiscal year provided $91.2 million to a region’s income, and student spending was estimated at $11.9 million, she said.

City manager Steve Schwabauer said Delta College was still interested in building a satellite campus in Lodi, but plans are “a ways off” as there are currently no suitable pieces of property.

He said the college is interested in building on property on the southeast corner of Lodi that might be annexed into the city limits in the coming years.

“They did look at some property in Lodi that the city owns,” he said. “They were interested in property if the city was going to participate with them. They’re not as interested in that smaller piece if city is not going to participate. They are now looking for a larger parcel, something along the lines of 20-30 acres. They are still pursuing that, but it is at this point, very likely some ways off, because there just isn’t that piece of property annexed into the city right now.”

Quality affordable housing is another development opportunity, Trupovnieks said, and the city is looking to build on a 1.5-acre lot on the northwest corner of the Stockton Street and Harney Lane intersection.

According to a PowerPoint pres

entation provided during the meeting and in the agenda at www.lodi.gov, the project would consist of least five structures of three-stories, with trees and decorative bushes lining the curbs and sidewalks.

Trupovnieks said she and community development director John Della Monica recently traveled to Santa Cruz to look at what kinds of affordable housing that city had provided, and modeled Tuesday’s rendering after it.

There are currently four undeveloped sites in Lodi that could potentially house large commercial or industry uses to attract jobs to Lodi as well, she said.

Those sites are located at 699 and 775 Guild Ave.; 1335 Lockeford St.; 930 Beckman Road; 1235 E. Kettleman Lane; and 1430 and 1600 Cherokee Lane.

“These sites are all with easy access to Highway 99, a highly functioning supply chain, all development ready in terms of utilities and infrastructure, and all highly visible to customers for industry in which branding is critical,” she said. “But as in all cases, there has to be a willing seller and a willing buyer. Until there is that successful duo, these props remain conceptual in terms of key development.”

A final catalytic development opportunity could be to establish a business incubator to accelerate Lodi’s wine grape, food and ag tech industry, she said.

According to the Harvard Business Review, Trupovnieks said, business incubators provide better access to venture capital, which the city currently does not have. They also lower personal and financial risk, and provide ready-to-use infrastructure such as office space, IT tools and administrative business support services.

Trupovnieks said the most successful incubators are those sponsored by higher education, and local corporations.

The Grow in Lodi campaign began as a website created by the city’s business community through the Chamber of Commerce that would attract residents and entrepreneurs from the Bay Area and consider Lodi as a place to establish business.

The campaign was scheduled to begin last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a hold on most of its efforts, Chamber CEO Pat Patrick said.

“Right now there’s a campaign going on in the Bay Area drawing attention to Lodi’s benefits and assets,” he said. “Such as an electric utility that doesn’t go down as often as the one that surrounds us, and dependable electricity that we have known and has brought businesses to us in the past because of its reliability.”

Patrick said Grow in Lodi marketing efforts are going to step up with releases and publications throughout the Bay Area, talking about Lodi as a place to live and work.

Councilman Mikey Hothi noted that his employer, Assemblyman Jim Cooper, DElk Grove, partnered with the chamber, the Lodi Business Council and other groups to host a Grow in Lodi virtual tour and highlight some of the undeveloped properties Trupovnieks presented.

“It’s really nice to see how creative and innovative we are to put these properties out to the greater region to try and attract businesses,” he said. “I just appreciate the presentation, the partnership with the chamber and all of our partners.”

For more information about Grow in Lodi, visit www.growinlodi.com.