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Mayor announced about 3 years ago. Construction started and store will open this summer.3,063 square-foot “community store” Starbucks with drive‑thru partnering with nonprofits.Delay due to lease, city permitting and an appeal by Councilmember Arias (denied).
A little over three years ago, Mayor Jerry Dyer announced that the first Starbucks was coming to southwest Fresno.
In a video shared on social media, Dyer and local pastor D. J. Criner toasted Starbucks cups while standing on a dirt lot at the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Church Avenue. The video ended with the Starbucks logo and the words “Opening 2024.”
The coffee shop didn’t open in 2024 — or 2025.
But now construction has started. Starbucks confirmed the location is scheduled to open this summer.
It will be a “community store,” which is a “specialized, socially-focused store designed to create economic opportunities in underserved rural and urban neighborhoods,” said Lewis S. Smith, senior vice president of NEWMARK Retail California, who helped craft the lease for the property.
Such Starbucks locations partner with local nonprofit organizations, hire from the local community and provide space for community events, he said.
At 3,063 square feet, it’s also about twice the size of a typical Starbucks. It will have a drive-thru.
It’s part of a 5,781-square-foot building that will house other yet-to-be identified businesses.
The first Starbucks in southwest Fresno is under construction at Church Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard between Rutherford B. Gaston Middle School and Fresno City College’s West Fresno Center. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Why did the Starbucks take so long?
The coffee shop is scheduled to open more than two years after Dyer’s video originally said it would.
Why? Several reasons.
Dyer made the announcement before a lease was signed. Leases can often take many months before all the details are worked out and work can begin.
The permitting process through the City of Fresno can also take months.
And the project was appealed by Councilmember Miguel Arias on behalf of neighborhood residents. Neighbors at the planning commission hearing cited safety concerns. They were worried about increased traffic from the businesses with students and parents crossing the street from nearby Rutherford B. Gaston Middle School.
Conditions were added to the permit, including only one drive-thru line (instead of two), before the appeal was denied, allowing the project to move forward.
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Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers’ questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.