Broadway Studios Now Open, Showdown at City Council set for Aug. 16th

Nobody needs a Broadway Row battle
By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Tuesday, August 2, 2005, 5:45 AM)

If you like seeing powerful families duke it out and City Council members squirm, or relish another eminent domain debate, the proposed $50 million Broadway Row could make great theater.

I'm hoping it doesn't.

In fact, I'm hoping the brewing controversy about the area near the 10-story International Trade Center — otherwise known as the "old PG&E building" — turns into a feel-good story about developer cooperation and smart downtown renewal.

Chances are, you don't know much about Broadway Row, and for that you're excused because it's tough to know what is — and isn't — real when talking about downtown.

The good news about Broadway Row is two developers with histories of success have invested in the area. The bad news is they're nearing a battle that could raise costs for themselves and taxpayers.

In one corner is Cliff Tutelian, who teamed with his late father to remake the area between the Convention Center and City Hall into a beautiful layout of offices, shops and restaurants.

A couple years ago, Mayor Alan Autry's staff asked for ideas on how to fix up the area anchored by the Parker-Nash building at the northeast corner of Broadway and Stanislaus Street. Tutelian's proposal for retail space and owner-occupied townhomes in the style of early 1900s Fresno was the winner.

In the other corner is Reza Assemi, a developer and artist who is a member of the family perhaps best known for its Granville Homes subdivisions.

Assemi has won favor with city officials for his redevelopment work and efforts to raise the visibility of the arts downtown. He renovated the Pearl Building on Fulton, converting it into live-in artists' rental lofts, and his family is building Vagabond Lofts, a housing and retail project on the site of a former motel. Assemi also is planning homes and offices downtown.

That brings us to the conflict: After the city chose Tutelian for Broadway Row, Assemi purchased and renovated a building within the project. He is renting out artists' spaces there.

Each side is unhappy with the other. Tutelian's son, John, says Assemi knew the building was essential to Broadway Row and bought it to throw a monkey wrench in their plans. Assemi counters that he got the building because of the demand for artists' spaces and says the arts should be incorporated in Broadway Row.

Potentially caught in the middle: A City Council that will be asked to approve Tutelian's plans this month.

After years of begging for downtown investment and often dealing with people who didn't want to spend their own money or didn't have money, city leaders might be forced to choose between two families with the motivation and the means to do great work.

We don't need another downtown soap opera and lingering resentment. We don't need a project beset by delays and inflated costs because of eminent domain. What we need is a ribbon-cutting with smiling faces and the promise of more downtown projects.

Resolution rests with leadership. Autry and the City Council should bring all Broadway Row property owners together and find something that works for all.

The columnist can be reached at bmcewen [at] fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6632.

cliff keeps on trying to push some bs public relations to the media about how he wants to better the broadway row area with his project. when in reality he seems like he is merely after a quick buck and having his way. in many ways he seems like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum because after years of not moving forward on his destruction of auto row, he realizes that there are some folks in his way that will not give up too easily.

broadway as a whole has so much potential to be renovated and preserved for its historical importance to fresno history. among other things, it used to be called I St and was the street where the Fresno Free Speech Fight happened back in the teens...

so if big money does end up prevailing in the intitial city council vote, the struggle for the heart of downtown will continue, and we will not give up too easily

east, west, home is best - william saroyan

ps - cliff...you dont even get along with your family, in fact you are suing them, so why try to include this connection in the bee

For more info go to the Sour Grapes section of the Fresno Famous website...

Just a little heads up for those involved in the Studios or the surrounding community. There is a meeting/gathering being called for at 1416 Broadway(aka the Studios)this coming Thursday at 9pm. We plan to bring different proposals to the larger group about how best to pack the Fresno City Council on Aug 16th, so that we can make sure that 1416 Broadway is not torn down by Cliff Tutulian and friends.

for more info email me and we will be setting up more infrastructure, including stories and contact info, in regards to the fight to preserve and re-enliven the history of downtown fresno.
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Correction - meeting on
Aug 16th that we need to and will pack is a Joint Meeting with the Redevelopment Agency at 3:30pm.

Though the City Councils last meeting's notes does not specify that the
RDA/Joint meeting will be talking about 1416 Broadway and the Broadway development plan.

http://www.fresno.gov/cityclerk/...da/ 22050726.pdf

It seems that no meeting is needed at this point for the coming Thursday, as the issue of what is to become of Broadway Studios.
At any rate, people will be moving and working towards the grand opening of the space, and the Redevelopment Agency decision may or may not come up in the near future.