Golf course near Fresno Yosemite International Airport getting new life

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- An old blighted golf course near the Fresno Yosemite International Airport is getting new life.

"I don't know if you watch fixer-upper, but to me, it was a fixer-upper. It was an overgrown golf course. I ended up purchasing it and putting it into escrow," said Ted Price.

Price is the developer of the new Palm Lakes Business Park off Dakota Avenue near Peach Avenue. It used to be a golf course that shut down in 2007.

Price says he saw the property as a diamond in the rough and took a chance on redeveloping the area.

Leaders came together Thursday for a groundbreaking on the property.

"This area of town had a lot of potential, now we're going to get some good tenants in here to this light industrial (area). This is going to be great for Fresno," said Fresno Mayor Lee Brand.

The business park could accommodate 1.2 million square feet of industrial space and employ about 1,000 people.

"We've been looking for several years for a good fit for us, and we just couldn't find anything, so we ended up decided this was going to be our new home," said Michael Walton.

Walton is the president of Universal Coatings of Fresno, which provides roofing and insulation. The company will be the first to go into the Palm Lakes Business Park.

"Freeway access is great here in comparison to where we were before. The location is amazing. The building size we are going to be able to develop is going to be quite a bit larger than what we had," said Michael Walton.

They currently employ 50 people, and they could have up to 100 people in their new space.

Construction will take place on the Universal Coatings building in about a month. Developers tell me they have three to four other businesses in escrow right now.