To Virginia Camacho, the chief executive officer of the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau, the appeal of Manteca is clear.

"Look at the map. It's the gateway to Central California," she said of the town that sits 75 miles east of San Francisco, making it a manageable to commute to Sacramento, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.

Indeed, that attraction has meant that the town of Manteca has nearly tripled in population since the 1980s, reaching 75,000 in 2015. The new residents are so dominant, locals have given them a name: BATS, short for Bay Area Transplants looking for cheap housing.

For decades, the housing market in Manteca has offered newcomers the opportunity to buy less expensive housing, and that remains true. The average cost of a home in San Joaquin County's third largest city is $345,000, compared to $1 million in San Francisco. What's more, the homes are situated close to three major freeways: Highways 99 and 120 and Interstate 5.

But despite a thriving housing market, Manteca's downtown is dead, raising questions of how long-term residents can benefit from the newcomers and how booming populations also create communities. These are questions that confront any number of cities and towns where the transplants have found affordable housing including Tracy, Lathrop and Ripon - all in the eastern parts of San Joaquin County.

Laurin Sephos of Raymus Homes, the Manteca-based housing development company, echoes the sentiment for community.

"When people move here, they don't spread their roots," Sephos said adding that she would like to see new residents embrace the city. "That's what really hurts us. We're trying to work harder to help them feel like this is their community, their home, as opposed to this is where my house is."

In Manteca, the issues that make this difficult are clearcut.

As developers continue to build further away from the city center, downtown merchants find it increasingly difficult to lure residents to Yosemite Avenue, long Manteca's main street. Instead, they prefer brand new shopping areas that have sprung up close to the new housing developments.

Annie Bahn, a longtime resident and owner of a uniform store in downtown, said new residents do not shop in the area.

"Maybe if we added more plants and made it prettier more people would stop by," said Bhan, whose family moved from Reno to Manteca in 1979 when her husband secured a job at the local hospital.

While the area could benefit from a long-promised revamp, Elizabeth Deakin, a UC Berkeley professor of city and regional planning and urban design, said it's hard for independent retail — which usually rents in downtown areas — to compete with national chains, especially in moderate-income communities.

"The same kind of households that are looking for a community where houses are in an affordable price range are also looking for big-box retail," Deakin said.

And, like they have across the country, big box stores and mini-malls are also attracting long-time residents. Among the most popular places residents say they visit is Bass Pro Shops, the national retailer where you can buy anything from crossbows and rifles to camping tents and fishing rods. On a Sunday afternoon, the store looked like the day after Thanksgiving: hundreds of cars on the parking lot and crowds of shoppers.

More than three miles away from Bass Pro and 1.7 miles east of downtown, the Spreckels Plaza shopping center is also teeming with shoppers making their way to chains like Target and Home Depot, or simply grabbing a bite to eat at In-N-Out Burger and Chipotle.

Blink and you might miss two of the small business owners that have found success in the mini mall. Melissa Romero's hair salon, Scores Haircuts, has performed so well from walk-ins alone, she's considering opening up a second location in another part of town. Across the street, Jessica Rozevink's Pistols and Pearls Boutique has also benefited from the foot traffic.

Last year, when Rozevink was looking for a location, she considered leasing a space in downtown, where she said the rent was two and a half times cheaper.

"I looked at the downtown area here because I like that downtown atmosphere, but everything in Manteca is so rundown," she said. "So, I decided to open here, in a nicer area."

Strolling down downtown's Yosemite Avenue, Rozenvink's assessment is starkly visible. Vacant storefronts abound and parking remains hard to find. One of the few longtime merchants on the street said the area has been that way since he opened his shop a decade ago.

"In the past 10 years I've been here, I've seen shops close within six months to a year," he said, asking that his name not be used . "This area is bad. There's no parking and the city doesn't care."

There's no one-size-fits-all solution for revitalizing a downtown, but Deakin believes mid-size cities like Manteca can consolidate parcels and make them available for demolition and reconstruction. That way, stores like Banana Republic or Gap could move in. But that's often less appealing because of the expense.

"But a lot of times, it also depends on whether there's the right kind of land available for that to work," she said.

Over the years, downtown merchants have pleaded with the city to fix the deteriorating alleys, provide more parking and make the area more appealing to residents and potential business owners.

Last November, the Manteca City Council approved a budget of $39,335 to complete design work for a project that would improve the downtown's parking lots and alleyways.

"I am very happy that after being told two weeks ago that there were no funds, the city council and city manager have found funds," downtown merchant Brenda Franklin, owner of Tipton's Stationery & Gifts, told council members during the meeting. "We've waited 20 years."

While funds for the remaining 25 percent of the design have been secured, that does not guarantee the project will move forward, according to City Management Analyst Johanna Ferreira.

"It's kind of up to our city manager on how those funds get used and the city council," she said.

Meanwhile, more stores are closing. Maria Perez, owner of the newest shop on Yosemite, joined the Chamber of Commerce in the summer, shortly after opening Star Frutas, a shop serving Mexican style fruit-cups with lemon, tajin, chamoy and salt. The success of her fruit stand in front of her home did not translate to her new address.

"Most days we get 3 to 5 customers, and that's a good day," Perez said. "But parking is an issue and the city's plan sounds more long-term than short-term."

She said she's almost certain that Star Frutas will be closing at the end of the year and reopening at a different location in early 2017.

"There are just so many payments we have to make and at the end of the day," Perez said. "There's very little left over for us."