Landmark Square project breaks ground in Clovis. Here is what will be there
Clovis Mayor Drew Bessinger has a reason to be all smiles.
A small gathering took place near Old Town Clovis Tuesday afternoon to break ground on the Landmark Square project that will house a new senior activity center, a transit center and a public library.
All three will be built on a 6-acre lot. The cost of the project is $19 million, which does not include county library.
“These facilities will help serve our citizens in measurable ways,” Bessinger said. “Our senior program, which is already an excellent program, will be improved. Our transit station will allow people to come to Clovis for community events instead of having to drive here. Our new county library will give our youth and the rest of our citizens access to education.”
The senior activity center will have a conference hall, rooms for enrichment classes and a health clinic that will be run by Saint Agnes Medical Center. The facility will be named the Clovis Senior Activity Center: A Smittcamp Family Legacy.
The Smittcamp family, which put its Wawona Foods farming and packing roots down in Clovis after World War II, donated $1 million toward the senior activity center.
The transit hub will be named after longtime Clovis City Councilman Harry Armstrong. The center will serve as the hub for the City of Clovis Transit Service. The more than 7,000-square-foot building will house offices and a community room.
The city of Clovis partnered with Fresno County, which will build a new Clovis branch of the Fresno County Public Library on the property.
The Landmark Square project will be done in several phases with the senior activity center expected to be completed by summer of 2022.
The new construction at 3rd Street and Veterans Parkway, Bessinger said, allows for the reuse two buildings in the civic center just south; one will become a part of the San Joaquin College of Law library and another will be used by City Hall for office staff.
“This is a good day for us,” Bessinger said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 7:48 PM.
