University Medical Center image via Google Earth

With the demand for housing in recent years, a trend of apartment conversions has begun to take hold. A study by RentCafe discovered that nationwide, adaptive reuse projects increased by 17.6% in 2023. 

Fresno is second on the list of top cities for future apartment conversions in California, just behind Los Angeles with 5,881.

Fresno is expected to develop at least 1,111 apartments through adaptive reuse projects in the coming years, with 70% of these coming from the former University Medical Center campus, according to RentCafe.

Developer Sevak Khatchadourian won a $6 million bid last year for the 30-acre site at Kings Canyon Road and Cedar Avenue. In March, the owner of Fresno’s Pacific Southwest Building also purchased the Fresno Radisson building.

Khatchadourian has been quiet about his plans for the properties. He didn’t respond to a message from The Business Journal Thursday morning.

In 2023, Fresno had various projects in different conversion stages, yet it completed zero adaptive reuse apartments, according to RentCafe. 

Of the 1,111 units expected to come online in the coming years, almost 800 will originate from the former University Medical Center campus, according to RentCafe. Another 235 would come from a former retail store and 81 from a hotel, according to the study.

At the metro level, the study showed that Fresno is the only city with commercial-to-residential projects in the pipeline. Historically, the town completed 382 apartments from this type of construction, according to the study.

One major project in the pipeline is One Fresno at Manchester Center, which would convert part of the indoor mall to 600 market-rate housing units.