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Kern Street Promenade

FY 2006-2007 Proposed Budget: $2.4 million

No city is complete without a downtown, and every major City has a downtown with a specific draw, such as the River Walk of San Antonio, the Flats in the revitalized downtown of Cleveland, or the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego. These cities have built upon their strengths. Fresno’s new stadium, New Exhibit Hall and Convention Center complex are all walking distance from each other, and coupled with the quaint “village” feel down Kern Street form the perfect basis for Sports Town. The City can encourage entertainment and activity by making strategic decisions for the uses of existing resources down Kern Street.

The Kern Street Promenade plan calls for acquisition of strategic parcels along Kern Street for high-impact resale, such as the Virginia Hotel, Arco Garage, D& R Auto, the Elections Office, and the old Gottschalk and Berkeley buildings. The City will expedite the project through collaboration with private sector developers. For those parcels that the City acquires, the resale of these will allow the reuse of the initial funding for additional downtown projects.

The FY 2006-2007 Proposed Budget contains a total of $2.4 million in funding for the Kern Street Promenade project. Property acquisition is funded at $2.0 million from HUD Section 108 funding, while $400,000 is funding from the General Fund for support costs such as design, project renderings, and minor facility improvements for existing businesses along the Kern Street project.

Kern Street will consist of new streetscape lighting design, street improvements, banners, entrance signage, sidewalk patio dining, etc., as well as development of parcels noted above.

With the new mixed use ordinance in place, several buildings are being targeted for loft living with adjacent parking, along with a boutique hotel with retail or limited dining options on the ground floor. A downtown health club is viable along with other restaurant options such as a sports bar and grill and perhaps a public park area, depending on space.