This screen shot illustrates plans for the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame's future home at the Save Mart Center.

Construction has started on the new home of the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame in the Save Mart Center. On March 29, the first part of phase one began with the installation of data and power — everything behind the walls, said Walt Byrd, vice president of the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame.

“One good thing about the pandemic is it pretty much closed down the Save Mart Center,” said Byrd. “It’s allowed for construction to run pretty smoothly.”

Most of the work going on right now is off-site including fabrication of cabinets and displays.

The nonprofit organization is working with Fresno-based ProScreen Inc. for many of the displays.

The first thing that will be visible will be an upper truss in the middle of a display with eight video monitors that can stream different stories of athletes, said Byrd. That will go up mid-July. Painting will commence in the next couple of weeks and a mural will go up in July or early August.

The 1,900-square-foot Hall of Fame will be located in the southwest wing of the Save Mart Center.

There, inductees will have their biographies and stories stored digitally, accessed through touch screen technology.

Members of the Hall of Fame organization interviewed many of the athletes, including some of the more higher profile ones at Fresno State. Those interviews will be accessible at the Hall of Fame as well. Byrd hopes to be finished with the first phase of the Hall of Fame by October. The entire project is estimated to cost $1.5 million. They so far have raised nearly $1 million. The rest will depend on the community, said Byrd.

“We’re hoping that by seeing the quality of what we’re doing and getting excited about it, people will want to jump on and support this thing,” Byrd said.