Downtown Fresno restoration bringing new life and purpose to historic buildings

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Downtown Fresno is filled with historic buildings, many of which have sat empty for years, even decades.

Bringing businesses and creating new living spaces is a goal of city leadership.

Leadership said people come to the city and expect downtown to be the place to go. Right now, historic buildings like the Helm Building on Mariposa and Fulton Street and the Old Fresno Water Tower are undergoing renovations to give visitors and locals businesses to visit.

For sale signs and plywood boards mark the fronts of historic buildings in Downtown Fresno, waiting for new life.

"Downtown is certainly special in that respect. It's the oldest part of Fresno, and it's the place in the valley where you see the most density of historic buildings," Elliot Balch, President of Downtown Fresno Partnership, says. So it's a special part of our downtown heritage, and we're excited to see some movement with some of our historic buildings."

The historic Helm Building is one such building that could be filled again soon. Three new tenants are set to move in within the next six months.

A unique plan is set for one corner of the building. La Boulangerie will go from having a window across the intersection to a morning lease.

"They're gonna expand, we're gonna have indoor space," said Balch. "Their lease will go until like 2 pm every day. So they're doing the breakfast and the coffee, and the lunch business, but then if somebody else wants to come in and make dinner, drinks."

There are other storefronts in the building, and the upstairs is being converted from office space to living space.

The old JC Penney building on Tulare and Fulton is also being converted into 40 to 60 market-rate housing units, which are expected to open within the next year.

Changing a building's use from offices to housing is a long process. But when it comes to green lighting projects, the city is trying to speed up the process.

"Addressing the issues in the zoning code and addressing the costs and the fees, which have been reduced, addressing the time it takes to process new proposals -- that's been reduced," said Balch. "Addressing the infrastructure, which comes into play."

Even with that help, other issues can cause delays. One example is the Old Fresno Water Tower, where Frida Cafe has been working to open since 2021.

"We're just simply waiting for the big electrical transformer to arrive from the manufacturer," said Miguel Arias, Fresno City Council. "So we can electrify the building, which we anticipate in the next few months occurring."

"What's the holdup there," asked Action News Reporter Kate Nemarich.

"Manufacturing, there's an international supply chain for transformers, electrical boxes outside the control of PG and E," replied Arias.

Arias said Frida Cafe is already working on interior improvements, so hopefully, the cafe will be ready to open once the power gets turned on in six months.

There is also a push to reopen the Raddison Hotel now that it's back up to code, but improvements are still needed, including the pool and rooms.

Other historic buildings set to reopen soon include Hardy's Theater. Arias said the exterior renovations are complete, and interior renovations are in the final stages.

Within the next year, we could see a lot of ribbon cuttings happening at historic buildings downtown.

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