Appliance Repair in Fresno, CA

Fresno County and city of Fresno residents still have time to apply to emergency rental assistance programs, despite expiring protections at the state level.

SB2179 became law Friday, extending eviction protections through June 30 for renters who have applied to the ERAP, but have not yet received the funds.

However, Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza’s office and Councilmember Miguel Arias confirmed that the new state laws would not impact Fresno’s eviction moratorium or ERAP applicants who apply after April 1.

“Our eviction moratorium will stay in place so long as the City’s emergency declaration is active,” Esparza said. “At our latest Council meeting, I made clear that due to the latest variant and local COVID case rates, as well as the resulting housing market, that the City Council would be extra thoughtful in any potential discussions around the lifting of our emergency declaration and its related protections.”

Harman Singh, the ERAP coordinator at Jakara Movement, said it is important for renters to know they still have local protections in place so that they do not “self evict.”

“As we’re coming to the end of California’s rent assistance program, there’s a fear that with that comes the end of all protections, but that’s not the case at all,” Singh said.

Here are four things to know about the new law and how it affects Fresno.

With SB2179 California residents who apply to the state’s ERAP will have eviction protections in place through June 30 if they apply to the program by midnight tonight. The application portal will be closed after March 31.

However, the city of Fresno and Fresno County both run their own ERAP and will continue to accept applications after March 31.

SB2179 suspends any local eviction moratorium put into place after August 2020. The city of Fresno’s eviction moratorium was put into place March 2020 and is tied to the city’s emergency ordinance which is still in place, so it will be allowed to continue. Meaning that Fresno renters cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent if they have notified their landlord of a financial impact due to COVID-19.

Fresno County, however, does not have an eviction moratorium in place.

The city, nor the county, cannot implement any new eviction protection measures prior to July 1, 2022.

The new law also states that landlords can file a judgment against renters who owe money between August 1 and February 1, 2023 regardless of whether or not a local eviction moratorium is in place, according to a letter from the City Attorney’s Office obtained by The Fresno Bee.

To sign up for emergency rental assistance in the city of Fresno, visit ffresno.gov/mayor/erap or call 559-621-6801. Tenants can also visit or call the following organizations to apply:

To apply in Fresno County, visit fresnorentalhelp.com/ or call 559-515-4700.

This story was originally published April 1, 2022 5:00 AM.

A new KFC is coming to northwest Fresno, at the corner of Herndon and Spruce avenues.

But it won’t look like your average KFC.

Formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, the company will debut its first “Next Generation” style of fast food restaurant on the West Coast in Fresno.

The restaurant is owned by JEM Restaurant Management, a Fresno-based company that is the franchisee for about 15 KFC locations in the area.

The company has owned the land for a while, but the plot is so small none of the regular KFC designs would fit, said Richard Braden, JEM’s chief facilities officer.

Now, the “next gen” design does.

The restaurant will be on the northeast corner of Herndon and Spruce avenues, where Spruce turns into Polk. It will be built in the middle of the center, where a coming soon sign is now.

“It will look a lot different from the current ones we have,” Braden said.

It has a smaller-than-average dining room that seats 30 people, along with a different exterior, with a couple of red and white stripes.

It will have a drive-thru, but also a walk-up window. That is designed for people picking up mobile orders, for themselves or for Uber Eats drivers or others picking up orders to deliver to homes.

It will have designated parking spaces for curbside pickup.

The inside of the restaurant will have kiosks so people can order directly from a screen. Cashiers will still be available for people who want to order from a person.

KFC is not the only restaurant making changes like these. Large dining rooms are going out of style industrywide as customers are increasingly opting for takeout.

It’s why you’re seeing restaurants like Romano’s Macaroni Grill and Logan’s Roadhouse being torn down and replaced with restaurants like Raising Cane’s.

Work starts Monday on the new KFC after a groundbreaking ceremony.

The restaurant will employ 50 people.

This story was originally published March 31, 2022 7:00 AM.

Fresno firefighters responded to a fire Tuesday at a former motel along Highway 99 now used for housing homeless residents.

The fire was reported about 6:30 a.m. at Sun Lodge, which is a former Days Inn, on Parkway Drive south of Olive Avenue.

One unit was visibly charred where crews knocked down flames, but 16 units needed to be assessed for potential water and smoke damage, according to Deputy Chief Ted Semonious.

Witnesses said the resident of the most damaged unit was seen leaving shortly before the flames became visible, Semonious said. Multiple calls to 911 reported flames coming from the room.

“It’s too early to say what caused it,” Semonious said.

No one reported injuries as of Tuesday morning, he said.

The former Days Inn and a number of properties in the area were purchased by the city through Project Homekey, a 2020 state program to take rundown motels and hotels and turn them into housing for the homeless.

City employees assessed the damages Tuesday morning and five people from four units needed to be temporarily moved, according to H Spees, director of housing and homeless initiatives for the city.

They were all able to stay at the Sun Lodge in other units while the city works on fixing those rooms, Spees said, adding the total costs for repairs are not yet clear.

The units there can hold anywhere from one to three people, who most often are friends, related or in a relationship, he said.

The Fresno Housing Authority has money in its budget for such repairs, Spees said.

“Fortunately everybody is safe. The people in those rooms have been re-roomed,” he said. “We have very few situations like this but they don’t surprise us when they happen.”

The Fresno Housing Authority released a statement from CEO Tyrone Roderick Williams.

“Fresno Housing has been working with our partners today to ensure that all individuals affected by the fire this morning have a relocation plan and a safe place to sleep tonight,” the statement said.

This story was originally published March 15, 2022 7:30 AM.

In the mood for a steaming hot bowl of pho? Or maybe you want to try a Korean hot dog or a chocolate donut made from chewy mochi?

All are available starting Saturday, when two new restaurants open at The Square at Campus Pointe, the shopping center next to Fresno State at Shaw and Chestnut avenues.

Wayside Noodles and Mochinut both open at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 2.

Regular readers of The Fresno Bee may remember when we told you back in February about Wayside Noodles’ plans to open just east of Maya Cinemas (along with a few other new restaurants coming to the center).

Wayside Noodles already has a location in Fig Garden Village. This will be a second location to start, but the restaurant plans to move out of the Fig Garden spot when its lease is up this fall.

The new restaurant, in the former Tofas Mediterranean spot, will have the same menu. That includes its best sellers pho (the Vietnamese soup), traditional spring rolls and sushi-inspired rice paper rolls, along with noodle and rice dishes.

Unlike the Fig Garden location, this location will eventually serve beer and wine.

Wayside Noodles will have several grand opening promotions. On Saturday, customers will be entered into a raffle for free T-shirts or a $25 gift card for every $25 they spend.

The restaurant is also selling appetizers at half price until Friday, April 9.

Details: Wayside Noodles is at 3108 East Campus Pointe Drive. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Regular readers may also remember when we told you back in September about Mochinut planning to open its first location in Fresno.

Mochinut specializes in mochi donuts, a treat originating in Hawaii that combines an American donut and Japanese mochi. Mochi is typically a bun made from glutinous rice flour, but here it’s made into a ring-shaped donut dipped in glaze.

It comes in flavors like chocolate, purple taro, churro and coffee.

It’s not the only place in town to get mochi donuts. Clovis Donuts recently started selling them. And of course, the original mochi spot is the 106-year-old Kogetsu-Do Japanese bakery in downtown Fresno.

The Fresno Mochinut is a franchise owned by local nurse practitioner David Palecek. More than 20 locations are open nationwide with another 90 in the works.

Also on the menu at Mochinut are Korean hot dogs, which are growing in popularity in other cities but haven’t quite hit Fresno yet.

They come in the form of spicy sausage or mozzarella, or half of each, and are dipped in a rice flour batter. You can get toppings on them like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Details: Mochinut is at 3112 East Campus Pointe Drive. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

This story was originally published March 31, 2022 3:32 PM.

Goodness, Fresno. Your standards and expectations for prime downtown real estate sure have slipped.

For nearly a quarter century, city leaders have been trying to fill a vacant 0.74-acre lot next to the L-shaped Fresno Convention Center Exhibit Hall with a hotel.

Those fruitless efforts may now finally result in an actual project — a five-story, 144-room Courtyard by Marriott — scheduled for December 2024 completion, according to a revised timeline approved last week by the Fresno City Council.

That’s the good news, as is the case practically any time a developer makes a sizable investment in downtown Fresno. Unfortunately, the good news comes tempered by aesthetics and history.

When Miguel Arias, the Fresno councilmember for District 3, unveiled a black-and-white rendering of the hotel’s exterior on social media prior to the March 10 meeting, “sad” and “underwhelming” were the most common responses.

To which I would add “dreary,” “uninspired” and, yes, “ugly.” Not sure if the building’s slabby, no-frills design qualifies as brutalist architecture, but it’s certainly brutal on the eyes.

It’s as if someone took inspiration from the Saroyan Theater (located directly across Inyo Street from the hotel site) and the convention center parking garage and had a violà moment: Let’s make downtown Fresno’s newest hotel resemble a combination of two of its least remarkable buildings.

After wading through all the history in The Bee’s archives, the sense of letdown was even more profound.

In 1998, during the Fresno Convention Center expansion, a 10-story, 400-room Sheraton with three restaurants and a full-sized health club were proposed for the privately owned lot at the northeast corner of Inyo and M streets. Designed with elegant lines, distinctive tower crowns and gleaming windows, the building would’ve been a real showpiece for downtown.

That deal eventually fell through. But in 2001, another out-of-town developer (with the backing of then-Mayor Alan Autry) proposed a 12-story, 350-room Wyndham with a second-floor level that connected to other parts of the convention center. While not as striking as the Sheraton, the design was classy and modern.

Had either hotel been built, it would’ve been the largest in downtown Fresno as well downtown’s signature hotel property — with apologies to the 321-room Doubletree by Hilton a couple blocks away.

In 2005, the city of Fresno ponied up $3.1 million for the still-vacant parcel hoping another hotel proposal would soon materialize. It didn’t. A dozen years later, city officials offloaded the property for $645,000 to a local developer.

Buy for $3.1 million, sell for $645,000. Let serve as a warning to anyone who accepts real estate advice from a politician.

The December 2017 sale to Metro Hospitality Services Inc. came with a development agreement to construct a four-story, 200-room hotel on the site as either a Hilton or Marriott project. Construction was supposed to have been completed by November 2020, but the deal included a list of contingencies.

One of those, reportedly, was a pandemic. Which prompted the revised construction timeline as well as a slimmed-down design that includes one additional floor but 56 fewer rooms. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, meeting rooms, business library, bistro and lounge, according to a development agreement filed with the city. During mild weather, guests will get to enjoy a first-floor landscaped terrace.

I’ve stayed at several Courtyard by Marriotts. They are perfectly fine properties, just not the type of full-service hotel that downtown Fresno lacks and many business travelers demand. Can’t California’s fifth-largest city lure a more premium brand? I know we’re never getting a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons, but is an actual Marriott too much to ask for? (Visalia has one attached to its convention center, for goodness sake.)

Evidently so, or else that prime piece of downtown real estate that fits snugly next to the convention center wouldn’t have sat vacant for more than two decades.

While any new hotel in downtown Fresno is a welcome addition, after all this time it’s hard not to feel a little let down. Yet again.

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 10:13 AM.