(KMJ) – December 3, 2015: American Paving – the lowest bidder – wins the contract from the City of Fresno to convert the Fresno Mall into a street.
The council vote was 6-1 with rep. Paul Capriolio voting “No” because the amount budgeted for was 20 million and the contract bid they are approving is 22 million, but he said he still supports the growth downtown.
Mayor Ashley Swearengin says the city hopes to work with the company to bridge that 2-million dollar gap, and if they can’t they still have an out clause.
The city feels like it a good partner and will start immediately, next week, to discuss the contract with America Paving.
The mayor says there are five safety measures built into the contract – to ensure success- including subjecting it to the Contract Management Act – in which an independent group of experts will oversee the contractors to give it double layers of oversight.
The mayor says investors are waiting… with 40 million dollars of investment money if they put the street back – Hotel Fresno is planning to move forward on residential housing in the area, and developer Terence Frazier envisions a market for the old Gottshalks Building.
They will spend five million dollars to re-curate the art at the mall, which the mayor called “the largest public art project in the US, and the finest collection of public art on the West Coast.”
The mayor says construction costs and going to go up and safety nets are in place, and and nothing is changing – the mall will continue to decline further unless they do something.
Business owners, developers, and residents showed up, some to hail the move as forward thinking by the city, others contesting saying that the street conversion will destroy the Mid Century architecture and be a financial “governmental boondoggle.”
The Downtown Fresno Coalition’s Doug Richert is against the project, and said there are lawyers trying to sue the city in federal court.
Mayor Swearengin says she is confident in the conversion project.
The city hopes to be under contract in 30 days and have shovels ready for groundbreaking in late January or February
.
