The Fresno City Council is scheduled to consider a purchase agreement for a former Vons store at Blackstone and Ashlan avenues. Photo via Google Street View

The Fresno City Council will hear a proposal Thursday to purchase, demolish and redevelop land for a senior center in place of a former Vons store.

The 5.51 acres at 4343 N. Blackstone Ave. would cost the city $6.46 million, including a 40,564-square foot former grocery store and outdoor strip mall, according to documents filed with the City of Fresno. The City has allocated just under $5 million in Community Development Block Grants to pay for the project.

Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza said there is money set aside in the general fund for property acquisition that could go toward covering the remainder.

The grocery store between Gettysburg and Ashlan avenues had previously been an Asian seafood market and before that, a Vons. In its place, the City would build a 29,000 square foot senior center and a 33,000 square-foot, 70-unit affordable housing development for seniors.

The senior center would provide programs and services including meal and nutrition programs, as well as programs for health and fitness, recreation, education and more, according to the project description created by Fresno-based Precision Civil Engineering.

The program would serve between 1,162 to 2,323 seniors a year. The second portion of the property is a six-unit strip mall with four units occupied. No development would occur there, according to the project description.