The fate of Fresno’s most discussed, and perhaps most beloved, vacant homes has yet to be resolved. Under the canopy of government opacity.
At its Sept. 29 meeting, the Fresno City Council approved the sale of 3 century-old relocated homes (by court order) on the southeast corner of Santa Clara and M streets in the domain known as the Old City of Armenia. There were once five houses, which originally belonged to some of the city’s first Armenian immigrants, however, two were destroyed in a chimney in June 2020 in an arson.
The remaining 3 homes, usually empty structures with renovated exteriors, sold for $66,000 at Let’s Try LP, the development arm of Penstar Group. The company also won a $1. 2 million loan to rehabilitate the structures (ranging from 721 square feet to 1,007 feet) and convert them into multi-family housing.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that buying, renovating, moving, and (ahem) insuring homes has already charged taxpayers about $2 million. Only to make them feel unoccupied on a wrought iron fence that, even after the fire, remains compromised.
“We’re there to fix the fence,” said Marlene Murphey, executive director of Fresno’s former redevelopment agency.
Opinion
The council’s decision, taken with little fanfare or ice, drew shouts of protest from members of the Armenian network, as well as the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. Why were we informed of the sale of those houses?And what happened to its transformation into a home?museum that celebrates Armenian culture and describes the life of early twentieth century Armenian immigrants in Fresno?
The undeniable answer to either question: who do you ask.
“My proposal has been on your table for years,” said Varoujan Der Simonian, director of the nonprofit Armenian Museum in Fresno. “They never gave me an answer. “
“The Armenian network has been absent in this,” said Miguel Arias, a member of the Fresno City Council who represents downtown. “They remained silent. “
Before going through this mess, more background is needed. Let’s start two decades ago, when developers Richard Gunner and George Andros proposed a 10-acre assignment bounded by Highway 41 and M, Ventura and W streets. The Old City of Armenia, named for immigrant families who settled in the community after being excluded from property in other parts of the city, would provide a new home for the Fifth District Court of Appeals, 3 multi-story buildings, an Armenian Cultural Center, and an 850-seat parking lot.
During the structure of the Federal Courthouse, other facets of Armenia’s Old City faced a long legal war with environmentalists: the fate of five single-story wood-framed houses built in the early twentieth century that were under development.
Under the terms of a legal agreement, the city’s redevelopment company (which no longer exists and now purports to be the successor company controlled by the city council) ordered the five homes moved and renovated after thieves looted their historic “gingerbread” cladding and squatters made a mess of their interiors.
The original plan of the GDR to turn them into “an exclusive historical work park” suitable for a small engineering or architectural firm. But Der Simonian had another idea. In 2010, he began lobbying the city government on a task called Cultural Five-Home Town. Instead of workplaces, the five houses and an outdoor kitchen would be remodeled into a “living museum” that would showcase Armenian culture and serve as a tourist attraction. .
Der Simonian submitted a formal proposal to mayors, council members and city managers who presented internal concepts designed through Fresno State business, engineering and art students. He also met several times with RDA/Succesor Agency staff and representatives of Penstar Group, the developer who took over the Old City of Armenia after Gunner Andros retired and then disbanded. The last assembly of this type took a position in a notorious way in 2018.
The cultural city of the five houses would be controlled and maintained through the Armenian Museum in Fresno, according to Der Simonian’s proposal. goods and houses directly.
Any arrangement suited Der Simonian, who estimated that around $1 million would be to turn the empty houses into a living cultural site, as planned.
“I wasn’t there for a city donation or a bank loan,” Der Simonian said. “The cash would have been collected privately. “
Penstar’s assignment manager, Scott Anderson, proved he had won Der Simonian’s proposal. However, the proposer stated that the notable investment considerations were never resolved.
“We never actually got any monetary information, which was a bit of a red flag, to be honest,” Anderson said. “I don’t think I had the money to make the task work. “
Der Simonian, who helped raise gigantic sums for the Armenian Museum in Fresno and the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Trinity, says he approved a task before launching a fundraising campaign.
In the years that followed, there was no communication between the parties. Not even after two of the five houses perished in the June 2020 fire.
“Maybe I did,” Der Simonian said. But I didn’t. My proposal has been on the table many times.
Negligence goes both ways. The network’s only outreach effort is that Arias can simply refer to an October 2020 assembly with the Armenian consulate. Étrange. La last time I checked, the consulate is a representative of the Armenian government, not Armenian-Americans living in Fresno.
“I feel like we honor so many communities, but Armenians still get the crumbs,” said Councilman Mike Karbassi, who voted only against the sale. “At the end of the day, we prevent things and do outreach all the time. , and I feel like we’re doing it here. “
Equally disappointed are members of the Historic Preservation Commission who, for several months, have sought clarification from the city council why the allocation of the Armenian city’s historic district has spent several years in limbo. (The historic district is separate from the progression of Armenia’s Old City and would provide more coverage as well as potential financial benefits for homeowners. )
City staff and commission members spent many hours preparing an initial petition for the historic district, adding thorough investigations and a network petition with only about 5,000 signatures. A City Council hearing was filed in January 2017 and the matter has not been referred since.
In June, Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Jason Hatwig wrote a letter to council members asking for an explanation. There was no response.
“All of this doesn’t make sense to me,” said commission member Christopher Rocha. “Why didn’t the people approach the Armenian network and do not do everything imaginable to maintain the culture and history of the Armenian people?”
Arias and the developer defended the resolution to convert the houses into social housing, saying it was the most productive option they had.
“I would disappoint other people even more if the other 3 were burned,” Arias said. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid. “
Anderson says, “The most productive way to maintain a historic design is to occupy it. If there was so much interest and protest in those houses, why did they remain unoccupied for so long? »
The council’s resolution is binding and Hye Court’s assignment structure is expected to begin within 90 days (the call is an Armenian pun for “Armenian” and the nearby court, Anderson said).
In an interview with KSEE-24, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer agreed that more has been done to tell the Armenian network about historic homes, and pledged to “do something very unique” on one of the remaining city-owned land. Village.
I take place to have a concept that can fix things.
A few blocks away, on the campus of the Fresno Mission, is another Armenian cultural heritage house that wants a new lease on life: the Vartanian House.
The 131-year-old design and its 3 outbuildings (including a single octagonal-shaped warehouse) remained unoccupied for several years and no longer belong to the Fresno mission, according to Executive Director Matthew Dildine.
Previous efforts to move Vartanian space failed, basically due to the estimated $130,000 fee.
This is where the city comes in and Dyer. Si well the fate of the 3 houses on M Street seems to have been decided, the Vartanian House can be moved and remodeled in a museum or cultural center adapted to the Old City of Armenia.
All that is needed is civic will and greater communication between village officials and the local Armenian network. Even in a position as dysfunctional as Fresno’s, is that too much to ask?
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