What's at stake?
City leaders plan to spend millions beefing up sewer, water, and parking infrastructure to attract developers into the heart of the city.
On top of the $250 million in state funds for revitalizing downtown Fresno over the next three years, the city is set to receive $43.7 million in state grants to build downtown infrastructure for housing.
City officials said the new funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will finance key infrastructure improvements to water, sewer, streets, and parking to support a minimum of 862 downtown housing units — of which 557 are marked for affordable housing.
“The overall intent is to create a vibrant downtown where the folks who live there will not have to rely on a vehicle should they choose,” Mayor Jerry Dyer told Fresnoland. “There will be walkable neighborhoods where they can buy groceries, go to a pharmacy, go out to dinner.”
$43.7 million for revitalizing downtown Fresno
- $16.8 million for sewer improvements
- $14.3 million for water infrastructure improvements
- $11.7 million for a structured parking garage on Fulton Street
- $913,000 for street improvements near the Tuolumne Street and Van Ness Avenue intersection
Dyer said the goal of revitalizing Fresno’s Downtown is to increase its residents from 3,000, currently to 10,000. After that, “your downtown really takes off on its own,” Dyer said, adding that it will take both the $250 million and $43.7 million state investments to get there.
After the infrastructure is built, the City of Fresno will release a request for proposals so developers — local ones and those based outside Fresno — can submit plans for developing land for the minimum of 862 housing units.
“We have to be very intentional about how we as a city make investments that will attract developers to do what they do,” Dyer said. “It is a catalyst for the development of housing that will eventually create momentum that will allow us as a city to step back and watch it flourish.”
Going forward, the state grant funds must be approved by the Fresno City Council.
Monday’s announcement was also the same day public feedback ended on the environmental impact report regarding a major city expansion project in Southeast Fresno.
Dyer has said that increasing housing supply is a key method to stabilizing rent in Fresno, but his administration has yet to say how much it will cost taxpayers to turn 6,700 acres of Southeast Fresno farmland into 45,000 new homes.