Demo of landmark grain silos will make Fresno skyline less quirky and interesting | Opinion
Here in Fresno, there is little fondness for old, quirky and interesting.
Most everything with historical and architectural value gets torn down. (Either all at once via wrecking ball, or following years of neglect when deterioration and dilapidation leaves no choice.) Then replaced with something newer and more bland.
Or, in the case of the city’s most distinctive grain silos, replaced with a parking lot for semi trucks.
In California’s fifth-largest city, this is considered progress.
Since 1948, a 100-foot tall complex of grain silos has stood like a gray fortress on the northern edge of downtown. Motorists passing on Highway 180 see mostly cylindrical metal tubes, but the silos are adjoined to multiple other buildings of various shapes and textures.
The long-abandoned grain silos, let’s be honest, aren’t going to land Fresno on the cover of Architectural Digest. But the three-acre complex certainly qualifies as warehouse chic, which in some places carries cultural cachet.
Just not here, clearly. We’d rather have stucco. Or a parking lot.
Standing along H Street at the southern terminus of Palm Avenue, the grain silos are part of the south Fresno skyline. In a city where everything looks more or less the same, they are a true landmark.
You see them and automatically know where you are. No other structure in town bears even the slightest resemblance.
Not for long. Producers Dairy, their current owner, recently revealed plans to “systematically” deconstruct the grain silos from the top down over the next several months.
Although the company isn’t coming right out and saying so, it appears like at least some of the razed property will be used for a truck parking lot. Which, in theory, should address longstanding concerns of South Tower District residents over increased traffic in their neighborhood.
It’s a shame, though, that the apparent solution to one problem requires a further chipping away at the character and history of Fresno. Other cities have found fun, inventive ways to repurpose grain silos. What’s stopping us?
What other cities have done
The best-known example is Chip and Joanna Gaines of “Fixer Upper” fame. The reality TV home renovators purchased a set of abandoned silos in their hometown of Waco, Texas, and made them the centerpiece of a boutique shopping mall.
Unfortunately, like much of reality TV, it’s mostly a facade. According to videos posted to YouTube by visitors to the Gaines-owned Magnolia Market, the silos themselves are used only for storage.
Folks are more creative in Dallas, where an old grain storage facility downtown was recently transformed into a 30,000-square-foot venue for electronic dance music. Its name? SILO Dallas.
In Ohio, a former mill, factory and silos owned by Quaker Oats was converted into a 65-room hotel and later into student housing by the University of Akron.
And in Bend, Oregon, a forlorn mill district filled with empty warehouses and silos along the Deschutes River was redeveloped into a thriving mixed-use area.
Fresno’s most distinctive grain silos may be next to a railroad track and a freeway. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be repurposed into something useful and cool.
Housing is the obvious thought, given the obvious need, provided there are no major environmental challenges. Hard to envision a more unique apartment complex in town.
But if someone wanted to transform the silos into a climbing gym or artist studios or even a mushroom farm, those are worth exploring, too. Anything beats tearing them down.
My opinion on the silos doesn’t matter much. People who live in the neighborhood and have to deal with truck traffic on a daily basis deserve a far greater say. And if those folks are mostly pleased with what Producers Dairy has in store, so be it.
Still, there’s an obvious point to be made: If Fresno continues to tear down, or neglect, just about every structure that’s interesting and quirky, bland and same is all we’ll have left.
