Downtown Fresno is having a big party. But is city putting its best face forward?
Fulton Street is having a big outdoor party Saturday, and everyone’s invited.
Fashawn, Fresno’s hip hop poet laureate, headlines a bill of 19 musical acts and DJs on two stages from noon to 9 p.m. Three talented local artists (Ariel Bird, Michael Howe and Daniel DeMeza) will be painting murals on the sides of buildings. Enjoy food prepared by local restaurants and food trucks. Drink locally brewed beer and cocktails formulated by local mixologists.
There’s even a separate event for roller skaters at Chukchansi Park. (Ever heard of a “silent disco” before? Me neither but it sounds groovy.)
For those who haven’t ventured to downtown Fresno in a while — since the pandemic, since October 2017 when thousands celebrated Fulton Street’s grand reopening or years before — no need to fret. You’ll still recognize the place. Change, at least the kind signaling a true revitalization, remains slow.
Downtown’s liveliest spot, at least on a consistent basis, can be found on the south end of Fulton in what’s been termed the Brewery District. Now that Full Circle and the Modernist cocktail bar have joined stalwart Tioga-Sequoia, the block has become its own destination with more planned openings on the way.
Other positive signs can be found at the Helm Building, the historic 10-story high-rise that recently had its exterior facade restored and large ground-floor windows replaced; the renovated Peerless Building up the street in the Mural District; and with the success of inventive businesses like MAS Fresno, which offers people the chance to design, make and sell their own apparel.
Of course, there’s also been backsliding. Six downtown businesses closed during the pandemic, according to Downtown Fresno Partnership President and CEO Jimmy Cerracchio. (A few others may soon join them if the locked gates pulled across their storefronts are any indication.) Others relocated. Since Club One Casino moved to Granite Park, there’s noticeably less hustle and bustle on Van Ness Avenue across from Courthouse Park.
Downtown continues to have more than its share of blight. None more so than the highly visible vacant building at Fresno and Fulton that, in the Fulton Mall days, was home to a jewelry store. These days it’s a pitiful sight with boarded up windows, exposed wooden beams and barren concrete.
So pitiful, in fact, that if the building’s owner isn’t being written up weekly by city code enforcement, he or she ought to be. Just for being so blatant about how little they care.
“Opening Fulton Street increased the foot traffic, but it’s not the cure-all for downtown,” Cerracchio said. “Thriving downtowns have a mix of housing, destination retail and visionary property owners who are willing to take risks.
“There’s no quick fix.”
Certainly not in downtown Fresno. Where every step of progress must be hard earned.
Public art shows signs of vandalism, neglect
When Fulton Street underwent its $20 million makeover, roughly 25 percent of the money went to restoring, rebuilding and relocating 19 sculptures and fountains.
Four years later, some pieces of public art are starting to look neglected; others are no longer there. Three copper statues by noted California sculptor Claire Falkenstein were removed from the Kern Street Plaza. Why? According to Fresno City Council member Miguel Arias, the statues were damaged by metal thieves and will be returned after they are reinforced.
This isn’t the first time the Falkenstein statues have been hidden from public view for such reasons. The same thing happened in 2013.
Following Fulton Street’s 2017 reopening, the city opted to provide maintenance of the sculptures and fountains “in house” rather than sign long-term agreements with the two Southern California firms that conserved the art and built the fountains.
By coincidence (or not), several of the fountains aren’t operating properly. They contain stagnant, brownish water. And the one just south of Kern outside the empty Gottschalks Building is totally dry. Thieves who stole the fountain’s pumps and custom copper fittings are to blame, Arias said.
Cerracchio, whose office is across the street, said city crews are “constantly working” on that fountain and others along Fulton that are used by homeless people to bathe in or do laundry.
“It’s painful to look at what people do to those fountains,” said Cerracchio, adding downtown property crimes and graffiti went “way up” during the pandemic when all the usual office workers weren’t there.
“Things are somewhat back now, but we still aren’t seeing the numbers down here like we did before.”
More downtown housing in the pipeline
Events like ArtHop show people want to be downtown for special events. But getting them there permanently requires an increase in the current housing stock, an effort that stagnated in 2016 when property tax subsidies dried up. However, that may soon change.
Developer Reza Assemi has two residential projects in the pipeline — one at Van Ness and Amador that is ready to break ground early next year, and another on Broadway. Meanwhile, developer Lance Kashian this week was given the Fresno Planning Commission’s green light for a mixed-use project at Van Ness and L.
While work continues to transform Hotel Fresno into low-income housing, the long-delayed South Stadium project remains a go at Fulton and Inyo.
One more tidbit: Will Dyck, the developer who renovated the four historic buildings owned by Bitwise Inc., including the 96,000-square-foot State Center Warehouse on R Street, recently took ownership of the former JC Penney building at Fulton and Tulare. Dyck said he has filed building plans with the city for a mixed-use development featuring 100 apartments and ground-floor retail.
“All these things are ready to go or nearly there,” Cerracchio said. “It’s just pushing them over the final hill.”
Haven’t been downtown in a while? Saturday’s Fulton Street Party is a great way to get reacquainted. Plus you get to see and hear Fashawn.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
