Developers are planning to build a mixed-income complex of 104 units on a vacant lot purchased from the city at the intersection of Belmont and Dewitt avenues in east Fresno.
The new community will be split into a section of income-restricted tiny cottage-style homes provided by the city and another section with duplexes — which the builders say they would like to also keep as an affordable path toward homeownership.
“We would love an opportunity to make something where first-time homebuyers can get them at a very good rate,” Ben Dreicer, one of the project’s developers, said Wednesday.
He and his business partner, Dustin Kircher, are building the community through their New Look Investments LLC, a company incorporated in Oklahoma. Dreicer and Kircher are licensed real estate brokers in California and are involved in other affordable housing developments in Fresno, including a state-funded motel conversion in the works and the downtown Divisadero Commons apartments that broke ground earlier this year.
Their new project is being built on 9.7 acres the city is selling to the builders for $1.02 million, which will go into the city’s police impact fee fund. The city selected Dreicer and Kircher to build the project through a competitive bidding process that began in 2024.
Dreicer said construction could begin by next summer and is expected to last two years.
‘Vibrant community hub’ in new east Fresno housing plan
The project, which does not yet have a finalized name, is intended to become a “vibrant community hub” with housing and 12,000 feet of commercial and community space, according to the contract between the city and builders.
It will include 50 tiny homes that will be income-restricted for 30 years: 26 for households earning no more than 30% of the area median income and 24 for households earning no more than 80% of the area median income. (This year, Fresno County’s area median income is up to $97,100 for a four-person household, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.)
The city is providing the tiny homes using federal and state dollars.
The remaining 54 units will be two-bedroom and three-bedroom homes built across 27 manufactured duplexes. There will also be pickleball courts and a small dog park for residents.
Land just northwest of Belmont and Clovis avenues where a planned 104-unit housing project featuring cottage-style homes will be located. Photographed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Fresno.
First-time homebuyer opportunity in east Fresno project?
Dreicer said the 54 units in the duplexes are planned to be market-rate, but they “may be at an affordable price point.”
“Or there’s the potential they could be sold as well,” he said.
It’s not yet certain, but Dreicer said he and Kircher would prefer those units to be sold at an affordable rate to first-time homebuyers. He said they are working with economic development agencies and searching for programs to make that happen.
“The ideal is like it was maybe 10, 15 years ago, where a mortgage would be less than rent — which is almost unheard of now,” Dreicer said. “The goal would be to try to … afford that luxury to the Fresno community.”
A bus stop is seen at Belmont and Dewitt avenues where a planned 104-unit housing project featuring cottage-style homes will be located. Photographed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Fresno.
A planned 104-unit housing project featuring cottage-style homes will be located along Belmont Ave. just west of Clovis Ave. Photographed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Fresno.