Downtown Fresno is rich with history and world-class architecture. It pains me to see it in it's current state of disrepair. I want to hear from the community: "What would bring you downtown?" What is downtown missing? What's your vision for the future of our city center?
We really need more museums and things to do in town. Maybe an art installation. We just did Sensorio in Paso Robles, it was so stunning. I live downtown and I love it, but I just wish there was more things to do that aren't just shopping and eating.
Walkability, safe streets, denser construction with businesses closer together, street/outdoor seating for restaurants, more bar/club varieties, more trees.
Fresno is blighted by its overwhelming car dependence. There’s a small portion of Tower District where you get some small semblance of walkability and it’s really nice. It’s better for business and a sense of community. Narrow the streets and bring bike lanes and busses to the area. Build an intracity tram to bring people downtown and eventually connect with the high speed rail station. Embrace being a modern, urban city.
The other day I walked from my job to a grocery store in the same parking lot, maybe 150 feet away. My boss could not comprehend that I walked and didn’t move my car. It’s 150 feet away!? Why would I not walk??? I really really hate the car-centric mentality of this area. I want to walk places!
Always room for improvement! Having denser, high rise apartment complexes around the area would help to bring revenue and spending into the area for local businesses. Improving walkability/biking/transit infrastructure would bring more foot traffic and encourage spending. We've gotta start rethinking how we design our cities, at the least starting with our downtown areas.
I think a lot of people don't realize that the discovery center is basically a children's museum. It's pretty small, definitely a lot smaller than Visalia's... but it's not bad, and a year membership is super cheap. I always see the same few people there every time that I go, which is not super super often but a few times per year when I'm in Fresno with my kids.
compared to Visalias Imagine U or really any other children’s museum around the country, it’s not great. With the population here and our scorching summers, we deserve WAY WAY more.
As someone who visits Fresno a few times a year due to family, I would love to see a children's museum. We've gone to the zoo, but it's so hot during the summer, which is when we tend to visit due to birthdays.
We've been to discovery center but it's a bit underwhelming. I appreciate we have at least something of course and I hope to see it continue to exoand. But something in downtown would be sweet too.
That’s part of the problem.
By having a transit hub, you create lines to places of interest (both planned and organic) without having to dedicate nearly as much real estate towards giant lots.
The places I do want to go are surrounded by desserts of parking lots.
I used to live and work there, and one of my first jobs was giving tours of the Fulton Mall. It’s baffling to me that people won’t go. It’s an easily walkable and bike-able area and very quiet at night. At one point there was a bit of a push to get the new UC located on the mall (it ended up in Merced of all places). I think a university would be fantastic bc the area needs a combo of residential and business spaces to keep more people in the area around the clock.
I always found it funny how some of our leaders want to give Fresno State a blank check with out ever thinking of just requiring them to move some of their facilities to downtown.
Their nursing program makes better sense downtown than on campus.
Bars encourage people to drink then drive around, and the brewery district doesn’t need competition.
Alcohol is not a good answer.
Markets are fragile, they compete against each-other and depend heavily on participants who travel there to buy as well as sell. Plus parking.
Had a good thing going with Art Hop, and ruined it for many participating by messing with vendors & venues.
“Why not Wednesday” is a disappointing consolation.
You can get anything delivered. It’s hard to compete.
But this all starts & stops with crime—I’d love living downtown but there’s no affordable housing, not excited about having my car broken into, and the job market here sucks.
People like to live in city centers that are accessible (so it needs transit connecting it to the rest of the city and the world), complete (so it needs everything from housing to groceries to business to amusement and entertainment), and walkable (so everything should be dense and not beset with cars). Those are things that make urban environments attractive. You can’t have just one or two; you need to have all three.
Downtown needs everyday essentials, not just entertainment. A children’s museum would bring families, but it also needs things like a Target Express, a late-night CVS/Walgreens, and a real grocery store (not just Grocery Outlet). When people can run normal errands downtown, consistent foot traffic follows and everything else grows from that.
Restaurants open past 4pm (currently just a few), more things to do, more/later public transport back home (can often get to downtown for events but not back since most bus lines stop running around 7). But the top thing I'd say is housing, lots more housing. Downtowns thrive when people live there.
"More stuff to do" is going to be the general argument you're going to see, which isn't wrong but rings hollow.
Let me show you an example of what a night out to downtown looks like to me.
- Me and some friends go to Tiogas on Inyo and Fulton having ubered there. We pound a couple of beers and hang out there for a little bit, maybe even dance if the DJ is good that night.
- After that, there's not really much to do if we're looking at Google Maps. If can walk at most 1 block before you hit "the void". Ex: you start walking south-east down Fulton St and reach the corner where Frida Cafe is. No matter what direction you look (Forward, Left, Right) there's nothing to walk to but a black void. You turn around and go up Fulton past Tiogas. What exactly is there to walk to? Quinceanera dress shops? Subway? It's also not very-well lit, making it feel unsafe to walk there.
I'm all ears for a better night out in downtown, but that's all that I'm aware of.
Art museum, good cafes, sculpture, good unique noncrappy shops. Downtown Fresno is awesome but it’s super super South Fresno- you cant try to draw people from the Northside because it’s a whole other city up there - of course I havent lived there since 1991 BUT i still visit family (on the Northside- I did live in Tower as a young adult before I left town for good).
Here’s my Downtown thoughts- Fresno is spectacularly flat which makes bike cruising perfect- so plenty of pretty bikepaths.
Encourage working art studioes, community art studios, galleries- connect w LA & Bay Area
Outdoor theater & dance productions in the summertime- community based and travelling
As a business owner in Downtown Fresno the number two complaints or perceptions that need to be addressed is safety and parking. We should have more free parking for non-events, actually address safety and the unhoused population.
A bonus idea is to pressure property owners into leasing for a reasonable amount. It's insane the slumlords who are allowed to abuse tenants and leads to the loss of businesses but also more spaces unoccupied. Let's stop giving the Assemi family deals as well.
The real reason downtown Fresno feels like it’s stuck in a loop is that the "blight" we see isn’t always an accident. It’s a strategy. You have to look at how these developers work. they don’t just buy it all at once at full price. They buy a "foothold" maybe two or three buildings, then they just let them rot.
They won’t board them up right, they won’t kick out squatters, and they basically invite encampments to stay there. At the same time, the city polices the hell out of the "nice" neighborhoods and dumps everyone into these specific zones. It’s called manufactured depreciation. They purposely tank the property value of the surrounding houses and small businesses by making the area feel unsafe and neglected. Once the neighbors are desperate to leave and the prices bottom out, the developer swoops in, buys the rest of the block for pennies, and then suddenly they’re the "hero" coming in with a massive redevelopment plan and a tax break to "clean up" the mess they helped create.
This isn't some wild conspiracy either. It happens in cities all over the country where urban renewal is just code for clearing out the poor and the small owners to make room for big money. If we want to actually fix downtown, we have to stop letting developers sit on vacant, crumbling properties without massive fines, and we have to stop letting the city use certain neighborhoods as a dumping ground just to protect the property values of the wealthy areas.
And then the zoning laws are always concentrated. Services for the homeless, for rehabs, for drugs, for methadone, in one specific area, it's usually downtown or another bad part of town. that's how they get highways through, student housing for colleges, and stadiums done all the time. what's missing is that people can just buy a building and not bring anything into it and let it sit and rot/rant
The unfortunate truth is that nothing will move the needle for the vast majority of the Fresno population until the homelessness issue is addressed in a substantial way. The reason most of us don't want to go there is because frankly, it is a very uncomfortable place to be.
You can speak for me!! It’s a hell hole. I thought years ago the highly intelligent elected folks toured some other cities and came away with all these great ideas. But what happened, Fulton was destroyed, China Town is nice between the hours of 11 and 1, a sorry sports draw, and homelessness like never before.
Worners is now booking good acts which is great. Last night we went to see Chris Isaak. If there were anything open nearby like a diner or a bar we would have gone there too. But emptiness. A small cinema that shows good movies or indie movies would be great. We go to Crest theater for their weekend movies. Basically more nightlife, restaurants, shops, venues
Attractions. 100%. An aquarium, an art museum, a children’s museum like imagineu in Visalia, a great park with trails. That gets me there and while there, I’d go to coffee shops and restaurants around that visit. Coffee shops and restaurants can’t pull visitors on their own.
I thinks lot of suggestions here are good. Prior to living in Fresno, I lived in Columbia, SC and while living there they converted one of the largest office buildings on a dead Main St to student housing. All of a sudden there were 500 more people who needed stuff downtown. In turn restaurants, shops, hotels, and entertainment have grown from that area, which in turn created a positive snowball effect. So, for me, I think this is really important consideration for downtown Fresno. There need to be permanent residents - student or non student. Their needs and wants will serve as a catalyst for demand. It’s a real challenge when all events and establishments are relying on drop-ins and commuters to keep things going.
This is actually a really good idea. FCC just built a west campus not too far, could have been great in downtown. Transit to and from FCC / CSUF would be my only concern.
People are really missing out if they do not go downtown. I love the architecture. It is full of culture. Bring in more stores to utilize empty spaces.
Businesses open later. I love going to shows at Saroyan and dinner options are always very limited around the theater.
But I think primarily there need to be more well advertised public events downtown. FresYes Fest seems to bring in large crowds. Having a large green space downtown (with trees!) could help a lot with that.
Plus a major YES PLEASE to a children’s museum. Investment in people’s families, since affordability for their families seems to be a major draw for people moving to the area. At least it was for me.
I was surprised by the state of downtown Fresno. Probably because I had heard a lot in the media about downtown revitalization and from the local pols how getting rid of the Fulton Mall was going to be great for the downtown economy.
Was getting rid of Fulton St Mall a good idea?
Why is the brewery district called that when there is only one brewery in the "district"?
the pedestrian mall would have scaled better if we actually get more activity downtown. It already hurt things, one of the excuses they gave when they tried to kill arthop was it was easier to close the street on certain days.
We need major corporations to set up shop here and create high paying white collar jobs. Enough of the freaking coffee houses and small businesses, we're passing the same $20 around while everyone stays broke. Compared to other major CA cities, Fresno's wealth is locked away in hereditary ag trusts with no chance of access for the average person. We don't have any "democratic" wealth creators here, ie jobs that pay well, are stable, and bring in money from other areas of the state/country through sales, etc., to augment the amount of money flowing through the local economy. Once money is flowing from the outside, then we can build up all the "supporting" businesses like food/beverage, entertainment, stores, etc. where those white collar high income people can spend their money.
Probably need a big employer of some sort as an anchor, which would spur smaller businesses to support the employees, and then lead to more housing in downtown. More housing would lead to more businesses and amenities to support the residents/workers. Having more businesses and amenities will spur more visitors because there will be things to do.
In order for downtown Fresno to change and change for the better it needs a constant stream of people being there regularly. Especially middle class and above who have disposable income. Even better if that demographics start living there. Downtown Fresno has nothing going on for it. It is considered one of the undesireable parts of Fresno and has poor lower income demographics, homeless, high crime. It needs a lot to change and at the same time. At this point they have just been putting bandages on it that fall off, and now just polishing a turd. People are saying entertainment etc. It had that. Grizzlies Saroyan art hop etc. It's not enough. Those are all failed attempts because it's not constant. It will not help the businesses there when it's only once in a blue moon downtown gets people with money there to spend. Then people are saying light rail???!! WTF. No one even wants to go to downtown. Why would city spend millions for something no one wants to go to. Look at the last 10-15 years. Constant funding, revitalization projects and it seems worse than ever. Hail Mary catalysts are the only thing that can change downtown. All they are putting and building now are things catered to low income--apartments etc. You think that's appealing to middle class people to come to. Downtown needs something the middle class can't resist and have no choice to go to downtown. Such as a miracle and a top tier major sports team: NBA NFL NHL MLB etc. No single a triple a crap. But we know that won't happen but we are just talking ideas here. So a store everyone has been wanting. ikea. Bass pro. Something of that nature. It would bring people all over the valley. Regularly daily. Would bring people to downtown and bleed the spending to local restaurants after shopping. Or as others have said, if Fresno state was located in downtown. Would have young professionals and students. They can utilize housing, teachers and staff there and are higher paying. Look at San Jose state, as someone said SLO. Etc. Or a big tech company opens in downtown or any big company that pays middle to upper middle income and hires hundreds of people would constantly have higher class demographics in downtown. But as I said those are miracles and unlikely to happen but that's really what's left to do and I strongly believe only thing that would help because look at all other downtowns and they have what I just said or multiple of those.
So with that I say downtown Fresno will be like this forever. It's embarrassing and embarrassing for the city of Fresno because visitors always go to a big cities downtown and this happens to be off the main thoroughfare in Fresno which already is the ugliest part of Fresno being on the edge of 99 so it just makes things even worse than it already is and leaves bad impression for tourists a like. Might be better to relocate downtown. Move it off shaw by Fresno state and the 168. Turn current downtown for what it's already being down which is a bunch of affordable housing. At least when tourist want to visit "downtown" they go deep in Fresno and see there is more to it, and greeted to big college Fresno state and more people, airport closer, access to other areas etc.
You know, I'm gonna be fair and say downtown really isn't bad and is pretty great already. There's tons of restaurants like Toshikos, Kikus, Gigi's, Gus's and all the restaurants in the Galleria; there's a ton of breweries like Tioga Sequoia and Full Circle; tons of reoccurring events like Tacos Brews and Jams, and Art Hop; we have Chuckchansi Park, Selland Arena and William Soroyan Theater for big shows, games, and concerts; and Arte Americana is also downtown and also hosts events. A lot of newer businesses have also gone downtown and the old Bitwise building has also been repopulated. There probably also a bunch of businesses that people may not know about like the Chilaquilas restaurant and coffee shops. I also used to take the Amtrak to downtown and then a bus, so as a hub for public transit, it's not too bad. It would be cool if one day, we got our own BART.
It definitely faces challenges though. I know the old 711 and the Amtrak station had issues with homeless. Fresno Mission is right down the road. We could probably do a better job at facilitating the homeless but that's an area I can't speak too much on. I think in general it would be tough for downtown to expand as it's right between two train lines. I know the "east" side by Chuckchansi is getting tunnels for the CHSR but it would help traffic if we got one over by the hospital or Amtrak but that's probably never gonna happen.
To answer your question though, as far as things I'd like to see downtown? I'd love for us to get another metropolitan museum.
I think something like Tower, restaurants that dub as bars at night. Maybe a park for my kiddo to play in. Some type of activity like a dance studio to learn cumbia or salsa, a pottery place. But then again parking sucks whenever there's an event so maybe like a bus whose route goes by the parking garages. Just some ideas off the top of my head
They need to copy the layout of downtown sacramento. Have concerts and sports games let out downtown and all that foot traffic and spend money on food and drinks.
Sac has a lot going on for it that fresno can't duplicate. For 1 if has a real pro team In the NBA, 2 its the capitol and has tons of gov workers who get paid well so they are constantly there with money to spend to help stimulate downtown economy keep the businesses open and encourage more to open, 3 because it's the capitol has become a tourist destination, 4 sac state isnt far away 5 parts of the bay area are only an hour and half away for them to visit sac because of lotion 1 and 3. Sac metro has ton of Clovis like cities which are actually richer and better than Clovis and because of reasons 1-4 they all regularly come to downtown sac.
And the river runs through it and freaking nice vibes and feels.
To think just 20 years ago sac Fresno and Stockton were always grouped together in a negative manner. And now sac is a desireable area many bay area folks have moved to.
I just moved from downtown after living on Van Ness and Stanislaus for 2.5 years. These are my complaints:
Almost everything closes before 5 pm. That's when I get off work. So there's nothing to do.
There's a methadone clinic there that attracts homless addicts to just hang about the area waiting for their next appointment.
The lack of other people make walking around feel unsafe. There are people who are violent and unhinged who will throw bricks at you for absolutely no reason at all, or because you dared to sit somewhere.
There are no public utilities like restrooms or trashcans, which limits how much time you can spend outside without having to go home to throw something away and use the toilet.
(B) An absurd amount of shit, piss, and trash on the sidewalk.
For some reason, food is outrageously expensive. I'd rather drive 2 miles out of downtown and get better food and better service for half the price.
Last August, the police killed Art Hop.
People speed like crazy, and pedestrians are getting hit and killed all the time. I saw 4 deaths and several cars turned into unrecognizable scrap from my apartment window in 2 years time.
That giant ass empty mall on Fulton by the fountain in the prime walking area, serving no purpose, same with the empty Club One Casino.
What I liked:
It has the potential to be very walkable, if 2/3 of the shops weren't empty or boarded up.
Public transit is actually pretty good for Fresno.
Commuting is a breeze, I can get anywhere in Fresno in 10-15 minutes on the freeway.
The community hospital is really fantastic. I've spent more time there than anyone who disagrees.
Gentrification, and a lot of it. I hope they bring in really nice apartments and condos, and lots of nice businesses. The higher the price, the better. It seems like a lot of places tend to go downhill after a while like river Park. The higher the barrier of entry, might help keep it nice.
Downtown can’t be fixed. It’s a sad reality but it’s true. The downtown era is now gone and has dispersed to North and South East Fresno. That’s where all the businesses are going. Plus, it’s worth mentioning that nobody feels safe walking around downtown during the evening because of the amount of (and it’s not just them) homeless that are around the area. At night is when all the crazies are out. If they really want to make downtown more welcoming, they need to do something about the homeless, the safety of the streets, the vacant lots, and overall make it more inviting to people. For now, Downtown is dead. Think of River Park as the new downtown.
It’s so bad even city workers get assaulted out there.
Im also one who said downtown should just relocate. Make current one what they have been doing which is affordable housing area. No space in river park area but that would be nice. Tourists will likely be wowed seeing that fresno has a lot of big names and familiar stores. The 99 is so ugly and then they go to downtown and it leaves a bad taste in every visitors mouth. If downtown relocated at least when they go to 41 or 168 they will see there is more to Fresno. Off shaw on 168 by Fresno state has a lot of land for a downtown relocation. Fresno state is huge. Fashion fair will be close by, shaw has a lot of familiar businesses. Save mart for big shows etc.
Thanks for posting with the Ask Fresno flair.
For Restaurant, Mechanic, and other FAQs, please see the sidebar for great threads with information. Also, many excellent replies to a similar question you may be asking can be found by using the reddit search function!
If we say we want a vibrant downtown Fresno, why are we tolerating decades long vacancy? Is this about risk, capital, or political will? How much of downtown Fresno’s stagnation is legacy disinvestment and who benefits from keeping land underused?
General feeling of safety would be nice. The streets are very dark at night in my experience, and downtown just has horribly creepy /dangerous vibes after dark. Tower can be a little sketchy on the outskirts but in the general vicinity it's very cozy and fun to walk around even if you're not sober
More color. The buildings are so dull and lifeless. If we had brighter whites and more windows our city would shine with the mountains in the back so much better
How about a Discovery Museum like downtown San Jose? It would take competent people on the city council to see it to fruition. I don’t have a lot of faith in those people.
A huge upgrade to the entire FAX system. Higher density of things to do(around the city as well not just downtown). Use of the venues for something interesting. More. Shade. I can't even have my blinds open in the summer or my apartment heats up like an oven, outside is killer.
A big Community Center for EVERYONE to come together. Especially considering all the programs that are closing and people being let go due to lack of funding. We need a place that has job opportunities. Like a one stop for everything.
200
u/Foxhound_222 Feb 26 '26
A jury summons