A groundbreaking was held Friday for a new United Health Centers clinic in Southwest Fresno. Photos by Ben Hensley

United Health Centers broke ground on a new health center in Southwest Fresno Friday on what will be the provider’s 33rd location in the Central Valley.

Located at 122 East California Ave., the new 13,000 square-foot facility, expected to be complete spring 2025, will offer primary care services as well as dental, COVID-19 testing and treatment, optometry, chiropractic care, extended-hours urgent care among other services.

Once completed, the center will also provide jobs for about 50 health care employees. It will also offer free transportation for patients to and from appointments.

United Health Centers CEO Justin Preas shared with those in attendance some of the metrics that determine where the provider plans its projects, many of which have been built over the last three years in low-income areas to care for underserved communities.

 

“For this health center that will be standing here in the 93706 zip code…over 50% of the residents are living in poverty,” Preas said. “30% are living with a chronic medical condition such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary disease or morbid obesity.”

Preas said residents may not have access to primary care, forcing them to rely on emergency departments when preventable conditions are left untreated.

The center will serve nearly 50,000 income-eligible Fresnans residing in the 93705, 93706 and 93701 zip codes — areas that saw some of the highest number of Covid cases and fatalities, said Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias.

“Yesterday we finished the opening of the new [Fresno City] college campus — $80 million there. We’re building a $10 million park in West Fresno. We’re building new market rate homes,” Arias said. “Those are just some of the investments we’ve made in West Fresno to turn the trajectory of a place that used to be a dumping site into a place that is the investment site for a community.”

The Fresno City College West Fresno Center celebrated its grand opening yesterday. The $86.5 million project received $16.5 M from the City of Fresno’s Transformative Climate Community program, which assists disadvantaged communities with neighborhood projects that aim to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The center will be located near Edison High School and sits south of a dense residential zone separating California Avenue from Downtown Fresno, approximately a mile north.

Legacy Construction is the builder.

“We’re here to build a building, but that’s not what excites me,” said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. “What’s going to happen inside of those buildings will transform the lives of those people, and ultimately transform this community by being able to meet their health needs.”

UHC also hopes to break ground on an additional four locations this year, bringing the total locations to 39, with continued room for growth in neighboring Valley towns and communities.