600 apartments are coming to Fresno’s Manchester Center

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Housing could be coming to the inside of Fresno’s Manchester Center. 

City officials say if all goes to plan, the mall’s second floor would be converted into apartment units. When it’s all completed, it will bring 600 new market-rate apartment units to the city of Fresno. 

“When you get folks who are living here, you have that kind of built-in customer base,” City Councilmember Nelson Esparza said. 

The units are one part of a long-standing effort to revitalize the area. 

“What we’ve seen over the years is a revitalization and a reinvestment of the mall, kind of trying to bring that back to life from a commercial perspective. What we’re going to see forthcoming is an additional housing component where they’re going to turn the entire second floor into housing,” he added. 

He said the first phase of the three-phase project is moving forward. 

The plan aims to not just bring life back into what’s now a struggling mall, but help fill the city of Fresno’s need for more housing across the city, especially in the Blackstone corridor in Central Fresno. Esparza said more mixed-use developments like this project are needed in the city. 

“Blackstone is the spine of our city,” he said. “That’s very important to us over at City Hall.” 

We’re still waiting to see when exactly this project will be completed.