‘Helluva journey.’ Will City of Fresno buy troubled University Medical Center campus?
The Fresno City Council this week voted unanimously to make an offer on the troubled former University Medical Center campus and develop it into a mixed-use, mixed-income housing and retail project.
A $4.25 million draft agreement on Thursday’s council agenda calls for housing, parking structures, retail stores, commercial businesses, and green space on the 30-acre site.
The campus at Cedar Avenue and Kings Canyon Road has been vacant for almost 15 years. Fresno County officials previously planned to sell it to a developer for affordable housing, but the deal fell apart amid a conflict of interest scandal.
Proposed purchase offer
Mayor Jerry Dyer and Councilmember Nelson Esparza, who represents the district where the property is located, said the acquisition is the first step, and the development plans are what city officials envision for the future.
“In order to make sure it’s done right, we want to be the one that controls the property, as well as the one that controls the master design of what that property is going to look like,” Dyer said. “We owe that to the neighborhood.”
Before any construction begins, the draft memorandum of understanding outlines plans to demolish the current buildings and infrastructure and install new water, sewer, sidewalk and streets. The estimated cost for site demolition, asbestos abatement and clearing is $14.6 million.
Construction will take place in phases over eight different sections of the site and over a 36-month period, according to the MOU.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors indicated that the minimum sale price for campus is $6 million. Previously, the board agreed to sell the campus to a private developer for $4 million. The city commissioned an appraisal for just the land, which appraised for $5.6 million.
“We want to be fair, and so we want to offer something to the county that we feel that they would be receptive to,” Dyer said. “It’s going to be probably two times that amount for us to be able to level the buildings, to remove all the infrastructure and make it more marketable for the developers.”
Esparza said the development proposal is a “placeholder.”
“I’ll be interested to hear what the community has to say as we go through the process and what the preferences are by the immediately surrounding neighborhoods and the school,” he said. “At this point, there’s a concept. There’s a vision developed by the administration, which it’s a very positive one, but I don’t want to jump to final conclusions until we’ve actually had that input.”
Councilmember Luis Chavez will recused himself from the vote since he lives nearby.
“From where we’ve started, to where we’ve come today, it’s been a hell of a journey,” Esparza said.
Will the county accept?
Fresno County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau declined to comment on the city’s offer until after it is received.
Steve Brandau, the chair of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, said the county has received lots of private interest for the property, as well. While other government agencies get first dibs on making an offer, the county isn’t obligated to accept it, he said.
“The county’s really interested in selling that property to somebody that wants to do something really valuable with it. We’re not going to get involved in dictating the terms of what happens there,” he said.
Although the county hopes to sell the property for at least $6 million, Brandau said officials are open to negotiations.
The property is ripe for investment, he said, with its proximity to Bus Rapid Transit and opportunity for revitalization. But, it’s going to take hundreds of millions to bring it to its full potential.
“Not just any bloke can do something worth over $100 million,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of capital.”
Troubled history
The affordable housing project was derailed in March after a county staffer who played a key role in designing the deal was charged with a felony for conflict of interest. The Fresno City Council then revoked a regulatory agreement to fund the project.
Fresno County in June restarted the process to sell the old University Medical Center campus after the last deal for its 30 acres fell through.
Since then, county leaders met with a major Los Angeles-based developer who has worked with Six Flags and expressed interest in the campus, along with several other properties in and around the city of Fresno.
Dyer said a number of developers have expressed interest in the site, but the city has not finalized any agreements with developers and won’t until the property is purchased.
Fresno County Child Protective Services is currently using the campus to house children who can’t immediately be placed in a home. The UMC facility was prepped by the county, despite lacking a license for such use, after a Bee story revealed the living conditions for children under Fresno County’s custody. The county could face penalties for using the facility without a license.
Construction of a new facility in Clovis is scheduled to wrap up around Thanksgiving, county officials estimated. When that’s complete, the new CPS office there could house up to 80 children and will include a shower, kitchen and pantry and bistro-style refrigerator stocked with prepared food.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.