A rarity in Fresno politics: Major developer with a choice downtown lot was told ‘No’
Something happened the other night during a city government meeting that you don’t see all that often.
One of Fresno’s most prominent developers got told, “No.”
Or at least, “Not yet, you can’t.”
Lance-Kashian & Company, founded by CEO Ed Kashian, sought approval from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission to demolish a downtown Fresno building. The one at 925-935 Van Ness Avenue has been unoccupied since about 2008 and sits next door to an empty lot (also owned by Kashian) at the corner of Van Ness and Tulare Street.
The building’s most notable feature are three oversized archway entrances in the brick facade along Van Ness. Those archways — a rare example of mid-century modern architecture in Fresno that hasn’t been covered up or torn down — were designed by renowned local architect Robert Stevens, who oversaw its 1962 transformation from the four-story Sequoia Hotel into the one-story structure that housed a furniture store and stock brokerage firm.
For now, at least, the building and its distinctive archways will remain standing. The Historical Preservation Commission voted 5-0 to deny the demolition application.
The commission’s vote isn’t final, and the matter may eventually find its way before the Fresno City Council. But at this juncture, it felt like the right move. While the building isn’t historically listed, it has been evaluated as part of the Fulton Corridor Historic Resources Survey.
During the public hearing, company officials and consultants told commission members that Ed Kashian (the developer of River Park, Campus Pointe and Fancher Creek) values old buildings. For evidence, one needs only to look across the street at the historic Rowell Building, which since 2021 has been home to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office following a seven-year renovation.
However, the company representatives argued, the century-old brick structure at 925-935 Van Ness is in poor condition and unsound. (Its use by the Fresno Fire Department for training purposes surely hasn’t helped.) And that any efforts to bring it up to current standards would be “financially infeasible.”
The wiser course, Lance-Kashian representatives told the commission, would be to knock the whole thing down so that a larger building “worthy of a key downtown intersection” could be erected on its old footprint and the vacant lot next door.
But when asked for specifics about the new building — such as its purpose, how many stories it would be or a potential construction schedule — the company’s answers were vague.
Another empty lot in downtown Fresno
Commission members, one of whom is a project engineer and another an architect, didn’t sound convinced every effort was made to preserve the archways or incorporate them into the new design. Nor did they wish to allow something of architectural significance to be knocked down only to leave an even larger empty lot in its place for the next several years.
Besides, commissioners pointed out, Lance-Kashian already has two major downtown Fresno projects at various stages of construction: the Mariposa Building at 314 Mariposa St. (currently undergoing renovations) and a ground-up, mixed-use development at Van Ness and Stanislaus (slated to begin in 2023 following years of delays).
With all that going on, how would this project be prioritized? Again, the answers from company reps were short on specifics and long on assurances. And commission members (each of whom is a mayoral appointee) clearly needed more than that.
Which is why they voted down the demolition application unanimously.
The tone of Monday night’s meeting shifted abruptly during the next agenda item when the commission enthusiastically approved construction permits submitted by Sevak Khatchadourian to renovate Fresno’s oldest high rise while retaining its historic character.
Vacant since 1995, the upper floors of the 10-story Helm Building at Fulton and Mariposa streets will be transformed into 99 one-bedroom live/work units of between 300 and 500 square feet, each with a kitchen, bathroom and large windows with views of downtown.
“We only wish you’d buy more (buildings),” a commission member told Khatchadourian, whose 16-story Pacific Southwest Building across the street is more than 90% occupied.
Kudos to the Historic Preservation Commission for not buckling to one of Fresno’s biggest developers. If only the mayor and city council would show the same backbone.
