\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stkae?<\/p>\n
The Fresno City Council will be asked to continue extending the deadline for a developer to secure funding for a high-density student housing project in downtown.<\/p>\n
The Fresno City Council will consider another financial lifeline for a downtown housing development that has already been stuck in limbo for more than a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project<\/a>, known as The Park At South Stadium Apartments, is a proposed eight-story apartment building just south of Chukchansi Park on a parking lot at Fulton and Inyo Streets. The development will include a mix of affordable and market rate studio, two- and three- bedroom apartments for student housing.<\/p>\n Specifically, the council will be asked to approve $11 million in funding through two resolutions, with eight million coming from a revolving city loan for downtown housing projects. Three million would come from state or federal funds, according to city documents, though there are no specifics on what those sources are.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The proposed funding comes months after the city agreed last year<\/a> to enter a new development agreement with the project\u2019s developer The Park Partners LLC, co-managed by Mehmet Noyan and Jeff Isenstadt.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s agreement proposed 160 apartments, but Thursday\u2019s proposal has the development committing to build 174 units.\u00a0<\/p>\n The agreement also required the developers to identify and secure $84 million for the project by this month. The development agreement<\/a> indicates that the developer is relying on $67 million in unspecified bond proceeds by close of escrow.<\/p>\n At the November meeting<\/a>, the city leaders included a way for the City of Fresno to back out of the project if the developers couldn\u2019t secure full financial backing by this Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think setting a drop-dead date of February 28 of (2026) is good for them to be able to do the things that they say they\u2019re going to do,\u201d Dyer said at the November meeting<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He later added, \u201cI think we\u2019ve learned from the mistakes of our past as a city, where we\u2019ve provided development agreements and extended them well beyond their useful life.\u201d<\/p>\n In an emailed statement to Fresnoland late Tuesday, the mayor explained his change of heart.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have come up with a creative financing plan that will allow this project to become profitable for the builder,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n The mayor said the city would loan the project about $11.7 million, in total, which Dyer said would allow the developers to secure the rest of the long-awaited funding from the bond market.<\/p>\n \u201cThis $82 million investment will serve as a catalyst for accelerated housing in our South Stadium portion of downtown,\u201d Dyer said in the statement. \u201cSeveral other projects will follow soon.\u00a0 Stay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n Dyer and his administration inherited the housing project when they first took office in 2021, which even at that point had seen failure to launch.<\/p>\n The project received its first grant award in 2016<\/a>, after the developers entered an initial 120-day exclusive agreement with the city in January of 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since then, the developers have failed to secure enough private financing to get the housing project off the ground.<\/p>\n Last year, the project was part of a rejected bid by Noyan to the State Center Community College District<\/a> to build student housing on the site. A previous version of the project was also denied an extension to the developer\u2019s \u2018exclusive negotiating agreement\u2019 by the Fresno City Council in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like multiple city leaders before him, Dyer has been vocal about his hopes to see a revitalized downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n Fresno\u2019s predominantly suburban tract developers have routinely looked away from downtown, citing outdated infrastructure<\/a> that is not suitable for modern, dense housing projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom committed $293.7 million<\/a> to help the city modernize its\u00a0<\/p>\n infrastructure, though the state\u2019s constantly shifting budget status has led to those payments coming in yearly installments.\u00a0<\/p>\n