Mike Sims has lived downtown since 2012. A retired construction worker, here he plays with his 1-year-old granddaughter Nevani at the Cultural Arts Park. Photo by David Castellon

At the age of 24, Kevin Dakin is ready to move out of his parents’ Madera home to live on his own.

But he has no intention of trading his current rural life for a home in Fresno’s suburbs.

Instead, the graphic artist has put a deposit down on an apartment in the heart of Downtown Fresno — literally a stone’s throw from the Fulton Street building where he works.

In fact, from the second-story landing behind his office, Dakin pointed across the alley to the apartment he’ll move into early next month.

“One, the commute would be nice,” he said of the yards-long walk he’ll have to and from work compared to his current long drive to and from Madera.

A far more important reason for his decision to downtown Fresno home is “I’ve always loved downtown. It’s so vibrant. Something’s always happening here,” from music to the monthly ArtHop event to baseball games at Chukchansi Park, Dakin said.

“I may or may not love it [downtown], but it’s a life experience,” Dakin said, adding that he’s optimistic he made the right decision, as the elements of downtown life that appeal to him also are big draws to other young professionals.

While those young professionals certainly are a big demographic among the large number of people who have moved to downtown in recent years, baby boomers and empty nesters also make up a big part of it, said Craig Scharton, interim CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership.

 

A tight space

“Not many big families,” he added, noting that downtown apartments tend to be small — usually 400 to 1,500 square feet.

Jeremy Looney, 25, is among the exceptions, with he and his wife living in an apartment above his tattoo parlor, Hole in the Wall, which he opened more than a year ago at the northwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and East Stanislaus Street.

He said he and his family manage because they rent the largest apartment in the building, but space still is tight.

“If I were to have one more kid, I’d have to move.”

Still, the difference between living in downtown Fresno and living in his previous home across town in a more traditional residential area are night and day, Looney said.

 

A different feel

“I feel like I’m in San Francisco, New York,” he said of living in Downtown Fresno, with its varying, unique buildings, shops and restaurants. “The vibe down here, it feels like a big city.”

Cathy Morales agreed, as she carefully panted the nails of one of her clients at her hair and nail salon, Euphoria 1612, at the southeast corner of San Joaquin and Fulton streets.

“I love my corner,” said Morales, who moved into the apartment complex that adjoins her business when she launched five years ago. Before that, she spent two years living in the Tower District.

“I love it. It feels like you’re not in Fresno. It’s like your somewhere else,” she said, noting that most of what she needs is just a short walk away — including her doctor’s office and church — and she rarely needs to drive anywhere except to pick up supplies for her salon or go grocery shopping.

“It’s kind of nice.”

And it’s likely there are a lot more people who would enjoy living downtown, if the space were available, said the residents contacted, with Dakin noting that the apartments he looked at had waiting lists.

 

A national trend
Not surprising, said Scharton — who lives downtown area — noting that the growing interest in moving there reflects a national trend of people wanting to get out of suburbs into urban areas.

“It’s sort of a lifestyle choice. You have some people who would prefer to live in an urban environment,” he said. “They appreciate living in a neighborhood where they can walk to go get a cup of coffee or a beer or listen to music.

“And they live with people in different age groups and ethnic groups and economic groups all together, and there are a lot of us who appreciate living around different kinds of people,” Scharton said. “Its amazing that downtowns, just by their natures, attract people who want those diverse lifestyles, diverse people, diverse restaurants, diverse cultures.”

While the apartments can be small, he noted that downtown residents don’t tend to spend a lot of time at home.

“They tend to be out going to Tioga-Sequoia [Brewing Co. beer garden] listening to a band and or eating at Tokyo Garden,” Scharton said. “They like to be out and about.”

He said the trend here started with people moving into older homes, mostly in the Tower District, as developers were focused largely on building tract housing in Fresno’s suburbs and had no interest in developing downtown housing.

 

Need was there

“Really, it changed when Reza Assemi did a small residential project called ‘The Pearl Building,’ and it was the first residential downtown development in decades.”

While some may have thought the Fresno developer was rolling the dice on converting the old Red Cross building into a series of loft apartments intended to house artists so they could live, work and show their art in the same place, he saw it as filling a need.

“There was definitely a demand for it,” Assemi said, noting that two decades ago cities across the nation were building up their downtowns and expanding housing in them, but it wasn’t happening in Fresno.

The amount of interest from people who wanted to live at The Pearl and the hundreds of people who showed up for art events there made it clear that downtown needed more housing, which is why most of Assemi’s residential and commercial developments over the past 18 years have been in downtown’s Mural District.

“To me, it’s really a no brainer,” he said, noting that highways 99, 41 and 180 — the latter of which wasn’t fully built when his first downtown apartments were built — all cross around the Mural District, making it one of the easiest starting points to drive anywhere in and outside of Fresno.

 

A changing downtown

Downtown has changed for the better since then, with the completion of 180, and constructing of the baseball park and the IRS building, along with the introduction of new shops and restaurants, many of which have factored in the growing number of potential customers living downtown in their owners’ decisions to move there, Assemi noted.

“It’s still growing,” he added, noting that Fresno’s downtown is only about halfway through a revitalization that could take up to 30 years.

Many residents are counting on that, moving downtown with the belief that the area will improve further, with Looney noting that “A lot of people who move here think downtown is going to be more in the future, and they’re investing here.”

Dakin agreed, noting the new businesses coming onto Fulton Street since renovations to the former Fulton Mall were completed last year.

“I would say we’ve kind of done it in the wrong order, said Scharton of the boom in residential development downtown. “Usually, you develop a fun entertainment district and people want to live where the fun is.”

In the case of Fresno’s downtown, the residential population is growing, and businesses are taking notice and starting to locate there.

Mike Sims, 58, a retired construction worker who has lived downtown since 2012, said he’s proud of the work city officials have put into gentrifying downtown and making it safer, noting that the apartment building where he lived previously was a hotel “full of druggies.”

 

What needs to change

More is needed, including more parks for the residents with children, Sims said as he watched his two toddler grandchildren playing at Cultural Arts District Park, which opened a little more than a year ago at the northwest corner of Calaveras and Fulton streets.

Some of the residents noted that while there are several grocery stores within a short drive of the downtown area — FoodMaxx, The Grocery Outlet and Smart & Final — they would like in the main downtown area one or more smaller grocery or convenience stores, akin to New York’s bodegas, within walking distance of the homes.

That may happen soon, as work is underway to develop a small grocery store at Divisadero Street and Van Ness Avenue.

Residents also said they want more shops and restaurants offering more variety — particularly ethnic foods, though Sims is hoping for a good “rib joint” to open downtown — along with more unmetered parking. As to the latter, Looney noted that many downtown families and cohabitants with two cars get only one parking space at their apartment buildings, so one car has to be parked on the streets, and finding spaces that don’t require payment or have one-hour limits can be difficult.

“I think we should get rid of all the meters altogether. You go to other cities; they don’t have all these meters. I think it is a big deterrent,” Assemi said.

But it hasn’t been much of a deterrent so far, he said, as downtown apartments usually are filled.

“The biggest problem we have downtown is there is not enough housing.”