While many storefronts in the greater Sacramento area remain empty, retail space at El Dorado Hills Town Center is booming.

In recent weeks Town Center has seen the Fire and Rain Gallery expand, Fireside Burgers leasing a space near the Regal IMAX 14 theater, a boutique is opening and a Verizon store will be added soon, according to Haley Young, marketing director for the complex.

Town Center is a 100-hundred acre downtown business district located at Latrobe Road and Highway 50 in El Dorado Hills. It combines retail shops, major merchants such as Target, the theater, Nugget Market, services and professional offices, a broad selection of restaurants and cafés, hotel, sports club and public spaces.

New leases are in the process that will bring a junior’s apparel and shoe boutique and a retail specialty bakery.

Developer Tony Mansour sees the new leasing boom as a definite plus to the area.

“This, to me, is the unique story that we have to tell,” said Mansour, chairman of The Mansour Company. “We have a wonderful mix of independent merchants, restaurants and services that have weathered the recent recession. Town Center continues to grow and successfully serve El Dorado Hills and our surrounding communities.”

Additionally the center was awarded approval for the opening of a California Welcome Center.

Welcome Centers are located throughout the state and offer information, advice and promotional materials to tourists and visitors to the area.

The El Dorado Hills California Welcome Center is currently the only one on the Highway 50 corridor into the Sierra Nevada, and is expected to attract large numbers of new visitors to Town Center.

Debbi Manning, CEO of the El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce, said the new center will not only benefit Town Center but all of El Dorado County as well as Folsom.

“Our estimation, based on information from other centers, is that we will see 15,000 visitors annually,” she said. “Statistically those that stop by are visitors to the area as well as locals.”

Manning said it is expected that the information provided by the Welcome Center will educate travelers and residents to the many things the region has to offer.

“The benefit will be far-reaching,” she said. “We have rafting, the Rubicon Trail, wineries and Folsom Lake — there is so much available to tourists and even our locals.”

Penne Usher can be reached at penne.usher@gmail.com.