Fresno County restarts effort to sell UMC. Will it be affordable housing?
Fresno County will once again start the process to sell the old University Medical Center campus after the last deal for its 30 acres fell through.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously declared the property surplus on Tuesday, the first step to putting it on the market again. Public agencies get the first crack at the property, often called UMC, before it can be sold to anyone else.
The supervisors also set the minimum price to $6 million, which is $2 million more than it was priced to go for in September 2019 in the now defunct deal with Fresno-based CMG Construction Management, Inc.
A public agency could negotiate a lower price than the $6 million, but that would take another vote from the supervisors, according to County Counsel Daniel Cederborg.
The county plans to retain the northeast corner of the space near Huntington and Barton avenues where the Department of Behavioral Health is headquartered.
The old deal would have transitioned the building at Cedar Avenue and Kings Canyon Road into about 800 housing units, including about 320 units for families with low or moderate incomes, according to officials.
But, the Fresno City Council revoked an agreement to regulate the affordable housing on March 31 after issues were raised about the county employee who spearheaded the project.
In October, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office charged Steven Rapada, former chief of staff to Fresno County Supervisor Sal Quintero, with one count of felony conflict of interest for allegedly having a personal financial interest in a county-negotiated contract. Rapada pleaded not guilty. The criminal case is set for a preliminary hearing next week, court records show.
It remains unclear what role, if any, Rapada played in the UMC agreement.
The original sale was praised by the supervisors in 2019 as the state of California is in a housing crisis. Many central San Joaquin Valley communities like Fresno have low vacancy rates for apartment units, driving up rents. Experts agree a large part of the solution is an increase in inventory.
Whether the former hospital will become housing is unclear.
Supervisor Steve Brandau said he believes there is interest in the property.
“I think there is value in that property — 30 acres in a zone like that,” he said. “Essentially somebody can buy this and make a commercial piece of property out of it.”
