{"id":459727,"date":"2026-09-10T20:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459727\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T20:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:20:29","slug":"community-with-duplexes-tiny-homes-dog-park-planned-for-vacant-lot-in-fresno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459727\/","title":{"rendered":"Community with duplexes, tiny homes, dog park planned for vacant lot in Fresno"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developers are planning to build a mixed-income complex of 104 units<\/a> on a vacant lot purchased from the city at the intersection of Belmont and Dewitt avenues in east Fresno.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 which the builders say they would like to also keep as an affordable path toward homeownership.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in the works and the downtown Divisadero Commons<\/a> apartments that broke ground earlier this year.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Dreicer said construction could begin by next summer and is expected to last two years.<\/p>\n

‘Vibrant community hub’ in new east Fresno housing plan<\/p>\n

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<\/a> between the city and builders.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The city is providing the tiny homes using federal and state dollars.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Land<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

First-time homebuyer opportunity in east Fresno project?<\/p>\n

Dreicer said the 54 units in the duplexes are planned to be market-rate, but they “may be at an affordable price point.”<\/p>\n

“Or there’s the potential they could be sold as well,” he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“The ideal is like it was maybe 10, 15 years ago, where a mortgage would be less than rent \u2014 which is almost unheard of now,” Dreicer said. “The goal would be to try to … afford that luxury to the Fresno community.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developers are planning to build a mixed-income complex of 104 units on a vacant lot purchased from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[181300,181301,112,114,113,39986],"class_list":["post-459727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-ben-dreicer","tag-dustin-kircher","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-tiny-homes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}