Fresno State’s long-delayed Campus Pointe celebrates grand opening

The spotlight at Fresno State’s Campus Pointe shifts Friday from the recently opened Maya Cinemas to the development’s first wave of retail tenants that finally are ready to go after more than a year of construction and a decade of planning.

Cold Stone Creamery and cell phone repair and accessory store ScreenWorks are expected to be open, the development company said. Mad Duck Craft Brewing Co., a restaurant and brewery, opened July 9. Beach Hut Deli has been operating since June 22. Still to come are Wahoo’s, Pieology, Yogurtland and eight other businesses.

The retailers, stymied by a long state permitting process, have slowly opened one by one since May, starting with the 2,700-seat movie theater complex. The university and the developer will celebrate the center’s official grand opening 4 to 7 p.m. Friday with special guests, giveaways and more.

“It’s so great to finally see this happen,” said Tracy Kashian of Lance-Kashian & Co., the Fresno developer. “The permits were pulled in 2004. It’s been a long struggle and a long time coming.”

The $250 million joint project, east of the Save Mart Center at Shaw and Chestnut avenues, is the largest mixed-use public and private partnership in the California State University system, Fresno State President Joseph Castro has said.

The university owns the land. Lance-Kashian & Co. is developing it. Fresno state officials have said that the project would generate $1 million a year from its ground lease to help pay off debt from the $103 million Save Mart Center construction and to support agriculture programs. About $62 million remains on the Save Mart debt.

More and more schools are looking at joint developments as a way of generating money on underutilized parcels of land and minimizing risk, said Larry Kosmont, an adviser with The Counselors of Real Estate and president of Kosmont Companies, a Los Angeles real-estate consulting company.

It’s also a way to engage students and the public.

“Universities have student unions and typical places of congregation for academic activities,” but not necessarily to socialize, Kosmont said. “It’s a way to expand and provide amenities that improve the quality of life for students and the university.”

But Campus Pointe’s road to development hasn’t been easy. On top of the typical planning delays were the economic downturn and a lawsuit filed in 2007 by Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis — which has its own movie theater.

Developer Ed Kashian struck a deal with former California State University trustee Moctesuma Esparza to operate the theater with his company, Maya Cinemas North America Inc. The mall sued, alleging the deal was a conflict of interest because of Esparza’s ties to the university. A Fresno County Superior Court judge agreed there was a conflict of interest, but didn’t cancel the project.

In 2011, an appellate court gave the project the go-ahead to proceed.

Esparza, who has not been on the board of trustees since 2007, ultimately opened the theater in the heart of Campus Pointe overlooking a palm tree-lined, grassy area with free Wi-Fi known as “The Square.”

“We want people to hang here,” Tracy Kashian said. “That’s why the grass is here — to sit and be that college type of feel.”

The Square is flanked by restaurants, some open and others still under construction, offering everything from made-to-order pizzas to sushi, locally brewed beer and pub food, tacos and ice cream.

Twelve tenants were announced at the project’s groundbreaking ceremony in early 2014, including Bella Nails & Spa, Tapioca Express and Wok It Out. Only two new tenants have been added to the list since then — Cricket, the cell phone store, and a coffee shop tentatively called Love Mugs.

The developer has been polling the public about what else they would like to see at Campus Pointe. People really want a Fatburger restaurant, Tracy Kashian said, and a Nike store. The company is still pursuing a food market to serve students living in the nearby Campus Pointe apartments, which were completed in 2009. Future development plans include a senior living complex and a hotel.

Yogurtland owners Ajay Hira and Jonathan Choe hope to open their store in August. It will be the pair’s second location in Fresno. They opened their first store in River Park four years ago.

“We have a lot of customers always asking us ‘Hey, when can you open closer to us?’” Hira said. “We took this as a great opportunity” to open a second location.

The store sells 16 flavors of frozen yogurt and will have a toppings bar for customers. The Campus Pointe store will have about 14 employees. The frozen yogurt team will be at the grand opening event serving 200 samples and giving away free yogurt coupons.

Melvin and Lucy Whittle of Fresno attended the grand opening of Maya Cinemas and have returned twice since then, forgoing their usual movie spot at Edwards Fresno Stadium 22 & IMAX in River Park.

“At this point, it’s not as busy as the other theaters,” Melvin Whittle said on a recent Friday afternoon. “It will be interesting to see what it’s like when (the entire development is) done.”

Campus Pointe is centrally located with fast access off Highway 168, the couple said. And parking is easy.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea to put it here,” Melvin Whittle said. “It gives us something to do. I’m enjoying it.”

 

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Fresno State’s long-delayed Campus Pointe celebrates grand opening."