Housing Archives - Stop and Move

2021 Downtown Fresno Construction Update

On April 5, 2021April 5, 2021 By jamesinclair

Would it be Stop and Move if I didn’t post my construction update over a month after taking the photos? Of course not! At least it’s not as bad as my 2020 update.

Anyway, I spent some time downtown and in the Tower District looking for new construction. 2020 was a slow year, obviously due to the pandemic, but development is showing signs of life again, and there a few new housing projects that should pop up quickly this year. If you missed it, I already posted about the new protected bicycle lane and the TOD apartments on Blackstone.

The District

We kick things off in the Tower District, which is downtown enough for me (scandalous I know). New apartments are going up on Van Ness and Alhambra, just a couple of blocks from the Tower Theater. Fresno State archives show this lot has been empty since at least 1977, and probably much longer – that’s crazy! While this is a prime location, and housing will be great to have near the bars and restaurants, they’re unfortunately only doing 18 units. Seems like a missed opportunity really. Oddly, I can’t find a rendering of this project. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno Housing TransitTags : apartments blackstone tod10 Comments

A look at Fresno’s first transit-oriented apartment building

On February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 By jamesinclair

About a mile north of downtown Fresno, at the intersection of Blackstone and McKinley, a really exciting project is well underway: Fresno’s first transit-oriented apartment building. Aside from looking impressive in person, I think this is the first time in Fresno history that a real apartment building is being constructed outside the downtown core. And by “real,” I mean as one urban unit. There are apartments all over Fresno, but they tend to be two-story, 2 or 4 unit blocks built among an oasis of parking and grass. Those are perfectly fine, but they’re suburban in nature. This building will have four floors, which will make it twice as tall as 98% of Fresno buildings. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno High Speed Rail Housing RetailTags : brewery district broadway community hospital construction update downtown fresno fulton street h street high speed rail photo tour update van ness Warehouse Row6 Comments

Belated Downtown Fresno Photo Update

On April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 By jamesinclair

I went downtown a couple of months ago (January) to take photos, as I usually do. I hesitated on posting them because frankly, not much has changed over the last year. This is in contrast to five years ago, when there was always a new building popping up.

Then corona hit, and the photos seemed even less relevant, but now I’ve changed my mind on that. With the virus, everything is essentially frozen in time. Nothing is under construction, nothing will be open any time soon, and nobody is lining up to lay down piles of cash on new development. That is, even if the virus suddenly disappeared tomorrow, there are too many questions about the economy for investors. Will people get their jobs back? Will there be a change in demand for office space? Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno HousingTags : city council Clovis developers general plan madera sprawl suburbs1 Comment

Fresno councilors trying to kill infill general plan again

On December 4, 2019December 4, 2019 By jamesinclair

Developers aching for more sprawl versus everybody else. Sound familiar? It should, because in December of 2014, I published this post: Will Fresno council kill infill general plan? with that exact sentence.

Five years later, here we are again.

As a reminder, the 2035 General Plan Update (enacted in late 2014) directed Fresno to focus on infill development instead of continuous sprawl. Local developers were furious, and pulled every trick they could to block it. Fortunately, the council at the time did listen to the people of Fresno, who throughout the public process strongly preferred curtailing sprawl. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno HousingTags : cogs planning rtp transportation2 Comments

Fresno COG’s 2018 Regional Transportation Plan Available for Public Comment

On April 5, 2018November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

The Fresno Council of Governments (COGs) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Fresno area. Basically, their job is to ensure planning is done on a regional basis, rather than a city-by-city basis. Or in their words:

The Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) is a consensus builder, developing acceptable programs and solutions to issues that do not respect political boundaries. Fresno COG is a voluntary association of local governments, one of California’s 38 regional planning agencies, and one of 500+ nationwide. In 1967 elected officials of Fresno County and its incorporated cities informally created the agency, formalizing Fresno COG in 1969 through a Joint Powers Agreement. Fresno COG undertakes comprehensive regional planning with an emphasis on transportation, provides citizens an opportunity to be involved in the planning process, and supplies technical services to its members. Click to read more!

Categories : Bakersfield Highways HousingTags : bakersfield highway highway expansion5 Comments

Bakersfield did demolish a neighborhood to build a highway

On March 5, 2018November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

A few years ago, I made a post about how Bakersfield was planning to bulldoze a neighborhood to build yet another freeway. I am rarely in Bakersfield, so in those 5 years, I didn’t really follow the project, aside from knowing it was chugging along. (I actually did stop in Bakersfield in August for dinner, coming back from Six Flags, but didn’t explore). Usually, big infrastructure projects take years to happen. At the time, Bakersfield was looking at alternative routes. If it takes Fresno 10 years to build improved bus stops, Boston 30 years to extend a trolley route, and NYC 60 years to add a subway station, surely things in Bakersfield would move slowly. Demolishing an existing neighborhood is no small feat.

Well, Ryan Young recently took a visit and photographed the progress. The freeway is indeed under construction, and the neighborhood is gone. He reports:

Westpark is a neighborhood like any other in Central Bakersfield. It’s filled with single-story ranch homes from the 50’s and 60’s; its streets are wide, clean, and lined with orderly parked cars; its lawns are neatly divided by fully matured palm trees.

But Westpark is a neighborhood under siege.

Over the past several years, city bulldozers sliced a wide, sterile arc directly through the heart of the neighborhood; they razed at least 300 homes and 120 businesses. And now, where the humble homesteads of hundreds of families and retirees once stood, there is nothing–just woodchips and orphaned cross-streets as far as the eye can see.

…

So if Bakersfield is going to be build this freeway after all, then I hope we at least remember that we threw a community under that bulldozer. I hope we can say that, in the end, we did give a s—t. Click to read more!

Categories : Clovis Fresno HousingTags : aerial Clovis construction downtown fresno google earth google maps google maps imagery update high speed rail sprawl9 Comments

New Google satellite imagery for Fresno! (Fall 2017)

On January 11, 2018November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

Posting updates about Google Maps satellite imagery in the Fresno region used to be a frequent topic on this blog. Thanks to the lack of clouds for half the year, Fresno was lucky in that new images were posted about twice a year, compared to some more populated area that only got an update every other year – or even less frequently. Basically, to provide the images, a satellite has to take hundreds of pictures, and then they are all blended together automatically to reveal a seamless image without clouds in the way. Since Fresno has so many clear days, it’s much easier to get the shots.=&0=&(it takes them a couple of months to process and update – that’s normal). There was also an update taken on =&1=&, which I noticed around July, but never got around to posting about.=&2=&

Categories : Fresno Housing RetailTags : construction construction update deconstruction downtown fresno fulton mall fulton street peeve's public house photo tour tioga33 Comments

Fresno Fulton Mall / Street September 2017 Construction Photo Tour

On September 21, 2017November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

This is a comprehensive look at the Fulton Mall (future Fulton Street) in Fresno, 2 months before construction is scheduled to end. Fresno is spending around $20 million to eliminate a pedestrian mall and re-open it to vehicles and vehicular parking. The intention behind it is to bring economic vitality to the corridor.=&0=&

Categories : Fresno Housing Parks RetailTags : bike trail community hospital cosmopolitan cultural arts park fancher creek fresno 40 greyhound h street manchester center manchester mall midtown trail park crossing redevelopment trolley creek9 Comments

Fresno downtown and midtown photo update!

On February 27, 2017November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

This will be my last Fresno construction update photo dump for awhile! Once again, I’ve gotten far behind and my photos are quickly becoming out of date. So rather than 2-3 posts, they’re all going in here!=&0=&=&1=&

Categories : Clovis Housing Parks RetailTags : centenial plaza Clovis clovis library community hospital construction update infill la quinta inn old town old town trail photo tour sierra meadows park4 Comments

Clovis Infill – A Photo Update

On February 9, 2017November 18, 2019 By jamesinclair

It feels a little odd talking about infill in Clovis. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, as the city is known for its endless subdivisions. And yet in 2017, Old Town Clovis appears to have almost as much infill construction as Downtown Fresno going on.

I reported on two of these projects in July 2015, but I’ve added a few other ones here.

Centennial Plaza
La Quinta Inn
Rail-Trail Housing
New Library
Sierra Meadows Park
Clovis Community Hospital

Centennial Plaza

Let’s start with the big one: Centennial Plaza. This is the heart of Old Town on Pollasky, and I last took a look in May 2016 when the new plaza was finished. That update was focused on the street improvements, but now new buildings are rising up to frame the plaza.

Only 3 stories tall, the new building does make an impression in a downtown where a second story is a novelty.

No basement here

Close to the street

Construction has also started on the building framing the other side of the plaza

La Quinta Inn

A wee bit south, we find construction has finally started on La Quinta Inn. I reported on this one in May of 2015. Aside from building on a vacant lot, what makes this development interesting is that the hotel will be built over parking. This signals that demand for development in Old Town has increased to the point where large surface parking lots no longer make economic sense.

It’s a start.

Rail-Trail Housing

In that same post from July of 2015, I talked about an approved plan to build new homes on an oddly shaped lot at Sierra and Clovis. What made the plan unique was that two of the homes would front the regional bicycle trail.

Construction has begun:

The existing homes are very modest

The alley will allow for rear driving access

The existing homes are getting carports added

Construction

View from the trail

New Library

The existing Clovis library is a disgrace. It’s about twenty years overdue for a replacement, and fortunately, one is coming soon.

Here we see the completed Old Town trail, looking towards the new library complex

Nothing has started yet, but it is expected soon.

The new complex will be behind this existing resting point

As an aside, that little station has a trail map which is actually updated every year

Looking north, the property is still on the right

It will link to Clovis Avenue

Here is the exterior of the existing library, which will be retained as another government building

Odd?

I stopped by on a day they were closed. Whoops. However, you can see how narrow the building is…

Sierra Meadows Park

Moving to the more suburban areas, we have Sierra Meadows Park. This is quite possibly the slowest park project in California. It appears that every year they add one little feature. Over the past five years, they’ve added benches, some lighting, and bags for dog waste. 2017 is supposed to see the arrival of restrooms.

This might be where the new restrooms are going

Someone posted an overhead video on Youtube taken from a drone. It does an excellent job of showing that 90% of the park is still just empty space. The plan includes adding a lake, auditorium, playground etc. Maybe by 2030?

Clovis Community Hospital

This hospital doesn’t stop growing. Admittedly, the one type of development I rarely follow is that related to hospital construction. While they’re open to the public, they’re not quite public spaces. They’re also very insular.

However I stopped by to see if any work has been done on connecting the regional bicycle trail network. Green shows what exists, red what is proposed.