The team behind a gated apartment complex planned for construction in west Fresno brought bodyguards to a meeting with community members Wednesday night.
It would prove to be the right decision.
Yelling erupted from the start and was sporadic throughout the meeting, which lasted more than an hour. Despite the security detail, one neighbor aggressively stepped to the project’s architect, Elias Saliba, multiple times before storming out of the room as he hurled expletives and threats.
“Don’t let me find you out on the street, because you won’t have no teeth,” the man yelled before being ushered out by security.
For his part, a frustrated Saliba loudly interrupted multiple neighbors as they voiced their concerns about the Royalty Center Apartments, which would bring 107 new units to the intersection of McKinley and Valentine avenues — a rural neighborhood about a mile west of Highway 99. The project, proposed by developer Sandeep Singh Sehgal, would also put a gas station, laundromat and small market on the intersection.
The neighbors noted the presence of guards as soon as they started arriving at Hanh Phan Tilley Elementary School, where more than 30 arrived to oppose the development.
The project is one of several efforts to add new homes on Fresno’s west side, where the city’s Planning Commission this year has already approved a 36-unit apartment complex and multiple maps for future single-family home neighborhoods. The property where Sehgal wants to build is on county land, but it and several other adjacent properties would have to be annexed into the city for his project to go forward. The developer has already applied for the annexation, though the process could take years.
The talk of annexation immediately angered residents, some of whom started shouting that they weren’t invited to a previous annexation meeting. (That’s because their specific properties are not being annexed.)
Over the course of the evening, some neighbors accused the developer of illegally operating a truck yard on residential land down the street — something Sehgal told The Fresno Bee he has been cited for by the county and is working on fixing by slowly moving his trucks elsewhere.
Other neighbors said they are concerned the apartments will bring homelessness and crime. Some were concerned about increased pollution and traffic, and that the project will cause their wells to go dry.
“Look, let me explain it to you again — again,” Saliba yelled into his microphone. “We’re not drilling wells, we’re not drilling wells. We are getting city water.”
An architect’s design shows the layout of the Royal Center Apartments development planned for the intersection of McKinley and Valentine avenues in west Fresno. The plans include six residential buildings, a gas station, laundromat and store that sells liquor. COURTESY OF AESTHETICS DESIGNS Six buildings, store with alcohol in west Fresno development plan
Though Sehgal’s project would annex 30 acres into the city of Fresno, his development would only span about 6 acres.
The Royalty Center Apartments would add its 107 units across six buildings in a gated complex. There would be a community building and a swimming pool.
The project would connect to existing city water and sewer infrastructure in the area. The builder would have to extend an existing storm drain line to a nearby ponding basin.
Outside the apartment complex, off Valentine Avenue, there would be a gas station with four multi-pump fuel dispensers. There will also be a 2,394-square-foot laundromat and 4,612-square-foot store that planning documents say will sell various food items and alcoholic drinks — a big concern for residents who say there are already too many “mini-mart” stores that sell liquor in the area.
“We already have two within walking distance,” area resident Kathryn Jessen said during the meeting.
She told The Bee after the meeting that neighbors are concerned the apartment project will not vet renters and will “bring our property values down.” Jessen said the meeting became heated because the developers are behaving as if “they’ve already decided, and that’s it.”
Saliba told The Bee the meeting went south because “the guy who kept cussing at me” convinced the neighborhood the project will dry up everyone’s wells.
“That’s why they all came here,” he said.
An architect’s design shows what the buildings at the Royalty Center Apartments could look like from different directions. COURTESY OF AESTHETICS DESIGNS Developer says project is bringing what’s needed to west Fresno
Sehgal, the developer, told The Bee on Thursday morning that his apartments will not be low-income.
“The benefit to the area? People are looking for housing,” he said. “There’s not enough nice apartments on this side of Fresno. We will bring a gated community.”
He said the commercial component of his project works because there aren’t any other gas stations on McKinley Avenue in the area.
Sehgal also owns multiple trucking and coach bus companies registered to addresses just a half-mile west of the proposed apartment site, state business records show. The land his businesses operate on is also zoned rural residential.
Fresno County records show he was cited in 2023 for operating businesses on residential land, which area residents called out during Wednesday’s meeting. They said semi-truck travel in the area makes the roads unsafe.
Sehgal told The Bee he has been fined and has begun to move the business’ out of the area.
“We are slowly transitioning to a different location,” he said.
A resident of west Fresno yells at the architect for a 107-unit apartment project proposed for the intersection of McKinley and Valentine avenues, which would require the annexation of some land in the neighborhood into the city of Fresno ERIK GALICIA egalicia@fresnobee.com
Related Stories from Fresno Bee
The Fresno Bee
Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea’s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert. Erik’s work is supported through the California Local News Fellowship program.