Ice rink returning to downtown Fresno. Mariposa Plaza upgrades to begin before 2024
Mariposa Plaza, a focal point of downtown revitalization plans, is getting some permanent infrastructure for an ice skating rink. It’s just one of the upgrades in the works for the plaza that a city website calls “the most active public space in downtown Fresno.”
Construction related to the plaza’s more than $4 million revitalization plan – funded in major part by the state’s Transformative Climate Communities Program – will begin before the end of the year, District 3 Councilmember Miguel Arias said.
Upgrades at the plaza located at the corner of Fulton and Mariposa streets is one of various city projects funded by the state program, which provided Fresno $66.5 million to spend at the neighborhood level.
Arias called the Mariposa project one that was designed with those who currently use the plaza in mind. It’s also part of much bigger push getting underway to redevelop downtown Fresno with $250 million in state money for infrastructure upgrades and a separate $44 million for housing.
The plaza upgrades are a long time coming for Victor Negrete, owner of Downtown Barbershop located in the only Fulton Street building that directly borders the plaza.
He stood outside his shop Monday, reminiscing on the days when the plaza was a central square of the Fulton Mall, a commercial stretch of Fulton Street that only allowed foot-traffic until it reopened to vehicles in 2017.
“We have to bring Fulton Mall back,” he said looking out at the plaza next to the building where his family has worked for decades.
Fun without the fumes
Mariposa Plaza has historically been a cultural event space for downtown Fresno. It’s home to the city’s Fiestas Patrias, the lighting of its 30-foot Christmas tree and also countless concerts.
In the past, “there was no electric infrastructure,” Arias said, “so we had to bring in diesel generators. It was a hub for diesel fumes.”
The Downtown Fresno Partnership has turned the plaza into an ice skating rink in the past, but that required a mobile energy transformer in addition to generators. The partnership stopped running the rink in 2014, citing high energy costs as a deciding factor.
Mariposa Plaza will now have an underground transformer – a $500,000 addition to the project funded by the city’s District 3 budget. It will cut out the diesel fumes and the cost of renting generators, Arias said, saving money in the long run.
“We have the exact dimensions so that we will not have to remove seating or the stage when we set up the rink,” he said. “It will be a much better experience for our residents.”
The ice skating rink is scheduled to open next year and will operate seasonally. Arias said its prices will be competitive with nearby rinks, such as Winter Wonderland in Hanford.
Stage, lights, art
The red, orange and turquoise artistic structures on the plaza’s east side will remain in place, but the hope is that more art will come.
To Arias, the plaza has potential similar to the Tower Theatre. The city purchased the historic theater last year after a legal standoff with another potential buyer, Adventure Church.
Now, the Tower Theatre operates as a nonprofit, making it a potential draw for Measure P money, special city tax revenue approved by voters in 2018 intended for arts and parks projects. The money is distributed through the Fresno Arts Council.
Arias thinks the same could happen for Mariposa Plaza if it achieves a nonprofit rating.
Arts Council Executive Director Lilia Gonzales Chavez said other nonprofits will also be able to apply for the arts and parks funds if they want to hold events at Mariposa Plaza.
“This is one more public space that can be used for the execution of the Measure P plan,” Arias said. “It will lead to a lot more arts and culture activities for our residents.”
A small stage will be constructed on the plaza’s northeast corner and a main stage will be built on its eastern end, both with tiled steps. The ice skating rink will fit in the space between the stages.
There will be different types of pavement and seating around the plaza, according to its final plans.
A permanent shade structure could cover the two stages and everything in between. On the south side, there will be movable tables and chairs, with various agave plants, Desert Museum Palo Verde trees and a Desert Willow planted around the main stage.
There will be a drinking fountain, and lighting could run along the shade structure’s beams. A mist pump would be available for the main stage.
Arias said the design of the plaza will be “top quality.”
“In the context of not pushing people out”
Victor Negrete opened Downtown Barbershop at the southeast corner of Mariposa Plaza last year. His mother, Teresa Negrete, has owned Estética La Moda, the beauty salon next door that opens directly into the plaza, for 26 years. She also owns the building where the businesses are located.
The mother and son have been overseeing the repainting of its massive wall, which looks down onto Mariposa Plaza like a giant movie screen.
“The renovations to the plaza will help a lot,” Teresa Negrete said in Spanish. “It’s a great accomplishment.”
Across Fulton Street from the plaza, on a concrete bench, a group of retired Latino men sat in the shade.
“Everyone right here worked in the fields,” Ernesto Castro Ramirez, 65, said in Spanish.
While the renovations will not ideal for the skaters who sometimes spend their afternoons in the plaza, they will be for people like Ramirez and his friends, Arias said.
“A lot of elderly Latinos spend their days downtown,” he said. “They’re always limited to some bench outside a business. Now, they’ll have ADA-accessible seating in the plaza.”
While they would also welcome accessible bathrooms and more police patrols, the group of men said they hope downtown’s renovations – hundreds of millions of dollars worth of changes arriving alongside the California High Speed Rail – do not price them out of the area because of rising rents.
“The rents are already high for someone who is retired and receives $200 to $300 a month,” Ramirez said. “I just hope that they charge us a fair price.”
The Transform Fresno projects required a study on how to avoid displacement, and Arias has stated before that downtown’s revitalization must avoid gentrification.
He said on Friday that construction will not impact nearby businesses and that vendors with Art Hop – an event held along Fulton and other downtown streets the first Thursday of every month – will be able to set up on the surrounding sidewalk.
“Mariposa Plaza will be one of the first projects to show what a downtown revitalization project can be in the context of not pushing people out,” Arias said.
The Negretes are looking for the right architect to design the upper floors of their building as apartment space. Victor Negrete doesn’t think the area will be gentrified, but said he wants the plaza to be inviting to all people.
He wants to put murals on the giant wall that overlooks the plaza, but isn’t yet sure what the art will be. He’s thinking about Central Valley history and Fresno first responders, from field workers of all backgrounds to doctors and first responders.
“This right here is the heart of Fresno,” he said.
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 8:10 AM.
