Tag: renovation

Categories : FresnoTags : 4 Comments

Manchester Center Renovation Moving at Glacial Pace

On By jamesinclair

One year ago I wondered if “the Manchester Center Food Hall was Really Coming?” I recently took a stroll around the mall to see if we could get an answer to that question. I have some good news and bad news.

The good news: Some work is being done.

The bad news: The pace at which the work is being done indicates that there is a single person working on his weekends to complete it. At the current pace, we will all be dead before that person is done.

Background: In May 2015 a company announced a renovation of Manchester Center. A year later, nothing had happened. In September 2016, the Bee reported that work was beginning and phase 1 would be done by Spring 2017. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno RetailTags : 4 Comments

Is the Manchester Center Food Hall Really Coming?

On By jamesinclair

I love food halls, or em, an “artisan food community”. I’ve enjoyed them in Los Angeles, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. So naturally, I was excited when one was announced for Fresno back in September 2016. Especially because the location was to be inside the Manchester Center Mall.

The plans include a new mall entrance, a redesigned facade with signage, a marketplace or “artisan food community” for chefs, food trucks and restaurants, an exterior shopping area and an outdoor events plaza.
Fresno Bee

At the time, it was supposed to be ready “a long way off, probably opening in late spring of 2017, Bagunu says, though construction has started.”

In January 2017, this was the update:

Inside the mall, renovations are going hot and heavy in the former Gottschalks store, though you wouldn’t know it because windows covered in black plastic hide the mess. It’s the beginning stages of what the mall calls a marketplace – essentially a fancy food court. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno RetailTags : 17 Comments

Can Manchester Center Mall be saved?

On By jamesinclair

Built in 1955, Manchester Center Mall was Fresno’s first foray into the suburban enclosed mall template*. Three and a half miles north of downtown, the Mall promised ample parking and an escape from the weather. The concept was indeed successful, and the mall expanded as the decades went by. =&0=&

Categories : UncategorizedTags : 1 Comment

Fresno’s Warehouse Row Project

On By jamesinclair

As you may have guessed, I’ve been rather busy lately, and have not had much time for posts. I hope to remedy that in the near future, and do have a dozen+ ideas in line.

In the mean time, here’s an interesting look at a downtown Fresno project that went under my radar: Warehouse Row.

The project is just down the block from the Amtrak Station, and walking distance to City Hall and the Convention Center.

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There are three historic warehouses on that block, built between 1903 and 1910.

From Historic Fresno:

The Warehouse Row Buildings consist of three architecturally and historically significant buildings, the Wormser Warehouse, the Western Meat Company packing plant, and the Fresno Consumers Ice Company building. These structures, all of which date from the first decade of the twentieth century, reflect the growth spurred on by the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad and the emergence of Fresno as an important agricultural center. 

Follow the link for a lot more detail on their history.

Well, the buildings are currently being renovated, with some additional office space being added.

Apparently one of them was renovated in 2012:

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Vintage Fresno has some renders of the current additions, and some recent construction pictures:

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Be sure to visit Vintage Fresno for some additional images.

I’ll be sure to catalog it in any future construction updates I do.

Categories : UncategorizedTags : 1 Comment

Renovating a historic downtown building

On By jamesinclair

The Bee ran an article the other day about some great renovation work going on in a 90 year old building on the Fulton Mall. With a 72% office lease rate, which is actually good for Fresno, this story proves that businesses aren’t scared to locate downtown – as long as the building isn’t falling apart.I believe the ground floor retail is fully occupied.

Over the last two decades, a Fresno financial adviser and his
family have poured nearly $3 million into repairing and renovating the
historic T.W. Patterson Building on the Fulton Mall hoping to attract
more businesses to the city’s central core.

Rick Roush of Roush
Investment Group has updated the decades-old air conditioning system,
replaced old lights, repaired the elevators and built office suites.
After doing so much work over the years around the rest of the building,
Roush over the last few months finally has renovated his own office.

Bee article with gallery

The building is in the south side of the mall, near the stadium, and will be just a block away from the new high speed rail train station. Once that opens, any vacancy should be a thing of the past.

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(The SUV that appears to be heading onto the pedestrian mall is probably a maintenance vehicle) 

The inside looks great.

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The link above from the Bee has the rest of their pictures.

Unlike other developers, this appears to have been done without financial gifts from the city.  Unfortunately, many other beautiful buildings downtown remain empty and abandoned. I just hope that the arrival of the high speed rail station on their doorsteps spurs this same kind of work. 

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/04/20/3266977/roush-family-renovates-historic.html#storylink=cpy