Mayor Jerry Dyer shared big plans for downtown Fresno housing, parking, and clean-up at the annual State of Downtown event at the Warnors Theatre on Friday.
The Dyer administration has its sights set on a “thriving” downtown Fresno, home to 10,000 residents, about 7,000 more than at current.
That would be supported in part by close to $300 million from the state, of which the city has received close to $50 million so far. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a one-year delay to the remainder of the funding in January.
But before the city can make those housing dreams a reality, the mayor reiterated Friday that it’s going to take massive infrastructure investments.
On top of previously announced upgrades to the city’s almost century-old water and sewer systems, Dyer shared that additional parking facilities are slated for construction downtown to support added residents and visitors alike.
One will be on H and Inyo streets and include about 900 stalls. There’s another coming to Fulton and Tuolumne street, and parallel efforts to “spruce up” the spiral garage on Van Ness Avenue.
“These parking structures will not be your traditional parking structures,” he said. “They will be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and strategically located for convenience.”
Dyer also shared goals Friday to clean up downtown Fresno.
Part of that, he announced, will include a project over the next two years to eliminate all dumpsters downtown and replace them with trash compactors.
“I have heard complaints for many years, even during my time in law enforcement, about the unsheltered population rifling through the alley dumpsters for recyclables,” he said, “resulting in trash being strewn about our downtown area.
“I want all of you to know we are committed to eliminating trash dumpsters in our downtown and Chinatown areas,” he added, “and replacing all of them with strategically placed trash compactors.”
He also shared that his proposed budget will include another $1 million for the city’s facade improvement program.
Through a collaboration with the Downtown Fresno Partnership and Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation, the city provided $25,000 in grants to businesses that applied to give their storefronts a facelift. The program resulted in $500,000’s worth of improvements to 22 businesses in downtown Fresno and Chinatown, Dyer said.
He urged councilmembers in the crowd – which Friday included Council President Annalisa Perea and Council Vice President Mike Karbassi – to support the budget item.
Mayor Jerry Dyer shared big plans for downtown Fresno housing, parking, and clean-up at the annual State of Downtown event at the Warnors Theatre on Friday. Credit: Julianna Morano/Fresnoland
More coming on the downtown housing and development front
Dyer shared a slew of upcoming housing and business developments headed to downtown Fresno.
On the housing front, projects soon-to-be-completed include the Hotel Fresno building. It will provide 81 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments as well as 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
Down the road, the city can expect to see the former downtown CVS demolished and replaced with a housing development.
Between that and another site at H and Inyo streets, the city plans to build “at a minimum, 862 housing units, both affordable and market-rate between the two,” Dyer said.
In terms of restaurants and nightlife, downtown will soon be adding to its rooftop dining lineup after the owners of the Los Arcos Nightclub purchased the Luftenberg Building in Fulton Mall.
“We’re currently working with the new owners to accelerate this development,” he said, “which I am told could be open as soon as the first quarter of 2025, if not before.”
The mayor is also confident that this year a temporary ice rink will be in place downtown Fresno “well in advance of the holiday season.”
Other highlights from the State of Downtown Fresno
Elliott Balch, CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership that hosts the yearly State of Downtown event, said that downtown Fresno is a lot different than it was 10 years ago – in measurable ways.
Balch’s team is tracking these changes through a new Placer.ai tool that measures foot traffic.
“We can tell you that within a block of Fulton last year, 2.3 million people showed up,” including about 700,000 unique visitors, he said.
Downtown visitors were 58% Latino, a median age of 31, and have a household income of between $75,000 and $100,000, he added.
The data showed specific attractions drew thousands of visitors. On ArtHop nights, Fulton Street typically saw 15,000 people. On Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m., the Brewery District sees 2,500 people on average.
This article first appeared on Fresnoland and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.