Hotel Fresno is back open and transformed into affordable housing

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- After being abandoned for decades, Hotel Fresno is not vacant anymore.

"Maybe it shouldn't beryllium called Hotel Fresno possibly should beryllium called the occurrence edifice for the clip it took to get it developed," said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.

The gathering was constructed backmost successful 1912 and was a crown jewel and a bustling luxury hotel.

"My begetter utilized to travel present and sojourn my parent backmost successful the 50s and 60s erstwhile they were archetypal dating. He would travel and enactment present to sojourn my mother," said Michael Brown, a Hotel Fresno resident.

But it went retired of concern and was near to rot successful the aboriginal 1980s.

The neglected edifice was deemed unsafe to enter, but radical inactive did. Even successful 2017, a pistillate adjacent fell disconnected the roof.

Most, lone retrieve the historical landmark arsenic a gutted lifeless gathering with shattered windows, graffiti, and terrible damage.

Now, it's a spot Michael calls home.

For him, this is simply a afloat ellipse infinitesimal to unrecorded successful a gathering with truthful overmuch idiosyncratic history.

"It's astonishing due to the fact that this spot was beauteous messed up. I thought it was going to beryllium condemned. Just to spot the enactment that they've done connected it, it's amazing," says Brown.

The astir $40-million task suffered galore setbacks including changes successful developers, the pandemic, and unforeseen structural issues.

About 2,000 radical applied to unrecorded successful the 81-unit building. Room prices commencement astatine $400 dollars a period and spell up to $1,300 for the larger sizes.

"There's truthful overmuch past successful the gathering and it's truly amusive to beryllium a portion of it and unrecorded here," says Vanessa Ellinger, a Hotel Fresno resident.

For Ellinger and her mom, this is simply a agelong clip coming.

"I cognize that truthful overmuch past has been a portion of the gathering and knowing that it was abandoned, and we unrecorded here, successful a spot that was near unsocial for truthful long, but they were capable to reconstruct it," says Ellinger.

Mayor Dyer says Hotel Fresno is conscionable 1 portion of a greater puzzle to revitalize downtown.

"We acceptable a extremity of 10,000 radical surviving downtown and astatine 10,000 radical that volition beryllium the tipping constituent to crook our downtown into a large downtown we're moving connected that feverishly," says Mayor Dyer.

Mayor Dyer says the metropolis is actively moving connected transforming respective aged downtown buildings into affordable housing, similar the JCPenney building, and the Helm building.

For quality and upwind updates, travel Brisa Colon connected Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.