Granite Park gets new lease on life

Published online on Friday, Oct. 02, 2009

Granite Park is looking much better these days, and businessman Kirk Vartanian hopes to continue its transformation by retooling his vision for the central Fresno entertainment-recreation project.

Vartanian said Thursday he is shelving plans to reopen The Edge nightclub, which he once claimed would bring a slice of Las Vegas-style nightlife to Fresno, and instead will help a relative open a high-end French restaurant at the site he leases at Granite Park.

Vartanian said the restaurant will be called Le Rêve -- The Dream, in French -- and will be owned and operated by Marty Krikorian, his nephew.

"I'm too busy," Vartanian said. "I don't have time to run a nightclub."

Le Rêve should open in 45 to 90 days, depending on when it receives a state liquor license, Vartanian said.

Vartanian emphasized that Le Rêve, while it will have entertainment, is not a nightclub. He said the restaurant will be suitable for children as well as adults -- "Anyone who wants a high-end meal."

With that announcement, Vartanian served notice that he intends to be a team player in efforst to get Granite Park -- perhaps Fresno's highest-profile and most troubled redevelopment project -- back on track.

Fresno city manager Andy Souza said he is encouraged. "I wouldn't say it has turned the corner," he said. "But we're in the process of turning that corner."

Granite Park's decade-long history is nothing if not tortured. Much of the 42-acre site in east-central Fresno only a year ago had fallen into disrepair or was mired in controversy.

The project is two parts: 18 acres of athletic fields owned by the nonprofit Granite Park Kids Foundation and 24 acres of proposed retail and entertainment venues, formerly owned by a for-profit entity called The Zone Sports Center.

The two halves -- family-style athletics and recreation on the former, family-style food and shopping on the latter -- were to complement each other and make Granite Park a regional attraction.

But both halves collapsed financially, killed by unpaid debts. The ballfields, including three replica major-league parks, fell into disrepair. Construction on some of the retail sites stopped before buildings were completed, and expensive landscaping died.

Milt Barbis, Granite Park's original developer, tried to rejuvenate the project last year by striking a deal with rock star Sammy Hagar to open one of Hagar's Cabo Wabo cantinas on the retail side.

Cabo Wabo lasted only a few months, with Hagar and Barbis parting ways in a bitter public feud.

Then Barbis turned to Vartanian, leasing space for The Edge. The nightclub opened briefly this spring, then closed as Vartanian struggled with a variety of challenges. They included charges against him of domestic violence involving his wife, and a criminal complaint accusing him of stealing more than $500,000 in connection with business dealings at his now-closed luxury car dealership, the Auto Gallery in Fresno.

The domestic violence case was recently dismissed because his wife refused to testify. Vartanian has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges connected to his auto dealership.

All in all, Granite Park's family-friendly image had taken a beating.

But the place looks and feels much different these days.

Santa Cruz-based lender OMNI Financial now controls most of the retail side after foreclosing on a defaulted loan. The change has made a difference: many of the dead trees in large pots near the former Edge site have been removed, weeds are gone, and graffiti on some of the buildings has been painted over.