Craig Scharton seeks to revitalize downtown Fresno

Many downtowns define their city, and they serve as a gathering place for tourists and locals. Window shoppers, commuters and sightseers all flock to downtowns for recreation and work.

The heart of the city of Fresno’s downtown, the Fulton District, is currently under construction as renovations to Fulton Street are completed. Area leaders hope to bring traffic back to the downtown area and restore the cities once flourishing downtown.

Interim CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, Craig Scharton seeks to renovate Fulton Street and revive Fresno’s downtown area. The downtown property owners elected Scharton as CEO of the partnership.

“The Downtown Fresno Partnership is a property owner’s association,” Scharton said. “The property owners downtown voted to tax themselves an extra tax in 2010. That money gets collected and they (the property owners) elect a board to oversee those funds. That board of directors hires the CEO and then I hire the staff and manage the staff. The idea is that if you’re a property owner, you’re busy taking care of your property so you hire a staff to do the day to day work to keep revitalization going.”

As he was plastering Fulton storefronts, laborer Noe Corrales shared his hopes that the renovations on Fulton Street will create a family-friendly atmosphere for residents to enjoy and appreciate.

“Right now we are plastering the storefronts on Fulton Mall,” Corrales said. “It’s difficult (renovating Fulton Mall) because you have people walking back and forth, but other than that it’s been alright. When it is finished, it’s going to look a lot nicer and it will be more family oriented. I’ve been mainly working on plastering and working with a little concrete. Plastering is the main thing we have been working on.”

The Downtown Fresno Partnership assists new business prospects with establishing themselves in the Fulton District. Staff of the partnership answer questions and introduce them to other local business owners.

“We did this one project called ‘Opening Fulton Street’,” Scharton said. “That’s a $22 million renovation of our downtown. We started the project in January of 2009 and had to do all of the legal work, planning work, community meetings, get it approved and find the funding. The actual construction took almost two years. We just finished that up Oct. 21. We opened the street up to the public and had our big celebration. Now our is to get the ground floor businesses built up.”

Downtown business owner, Juan Ventura’s business, Sofia’s Creaciones has been around for four years. The business focuses on providing customers with traditional Mexican party decorations and attire.     

“Sofia’s Creaciones is basically party decorations,” Ventura said. “It is mostly traditional-style Mexican parties.  Everything you typically see in Mexico we bring it over here. We export it and we also have religious stuff. We do our best to keep it more into the past kind of parties than the parties that are nowadays with lights and everything. It’s (the street party) working because some people can drive by and see what kind of things we have.

“The only thing that is affecting my people (customers) are the parking meters,” Ventura continued. “It’s taking money from them (the customers) but at the same time, they are getting tickets now. My people (customers)

are always scared of walking into my store and they come in a rush. They have to hurry because they only have 10 or 20 minutes of their time (parking meter). They don’t have enough time to see what’s around my store.”

In 10 years, Scharton hopes to have the Fulton buildings filled and the area’s historic buildings renovated. With current and future renovations to the district, Scharton anticipates Fulton Street becoming a local hotspot, with all of Fresno represented in the district.

“Millennials are a good target audience for us because they tend to reject the suburban lifestyle and they are looking for more authentic experiences,” Scharton said. “Millennials tend to be foodies and they are looking to never have the same meal twice. They want to go and have a fig taco. Millennials want places where they can be entertained and go to hang out with their friends.

We did this one project called ‘Opening Fulton Street’. That’s a $22 million renovation of our downtown. We started the project in January of 2009 and had to do all of the legal work, planning work, community meetings, get it approved and find the funding. The actual construction took almost two years. We just finished that up Oct. 21. We opened the street up to the public and had our big celebration. Now our is to get the ground floor businesses built up.  — Craig Scharton, Interim CEO, Downtown Fresno Partnership

“As you see more people spending time online and with technology, the more important it’s becoming for people to have places where they can go and gather together,” Scharton continued. “It’s off-setting the individual nature of looking at a screen to have a place where you can go and be real and authentic and have a bunch of people around you.”

Fresno resident Larry Fulkerson was unable to attend the Fulton Street Party. However, Fulkerson visited the Fulton District after the party to see the newly renovated area and see the new attractions.

“I came to the Fulton Street for the history of the area,” Fulkerson said. “It’s been over 50 years since it’s been converted to a mall and now back again. You want to come and enjoy what’s down here now. I’ve been down here when it was the mall and I saw it go from a really exciting project to something people didn’t want to be around and many years of decay. It’s to see them try and bring it back.”

Fresno native Brian Richburg and New Yorker John Rutowicz met with Scharton to discuss potential investment and development opportunities. Richburg elaborates on the conditions of the Fulton District buildings and some of the renovations required to modernize the structures.

“We want to invest in buildings and an opportunity to rent the buildings,” Richburg said. “We are looking at the mall primarily for retail investment. We want to fix them (the buildings) up. In order to raise the rent, the buildings have to be improved. The look and the feel of them, starting with the façade. All of the HVAC systems. These buildings are old and they need to be redeveloped.”

After Richburg discussed his interest and plan for the buildings, fellow investor and developer John Rutowicz agreed with Richburg and added the need for private equity.

“We want to contribute to the revitalization of this downtown,” Rutowicz said. “They have started the process and now they need the private equity to come in and make their contribution.” 

Richburg shared an anecdote relating to his experiences with Fresno’s downtown.

“We went to a wedding on New Year’s Eve some friends of ours and she married a gentleman from Germany,” Richburg said. “They brought out about 40 or 50 people from Cologne where he was from. The wedding was on the Fulton Mall at the Security Bank Building which they have a beautiful banquet facility there. These German guys book their rooms in downtown Fresno. He goes, ‘So here we are downtown Fresno, we got in last night, and we walked around for 40 minutes and couldn’t find a place to have a beer. What’s going on?’”

As the Fulton Street and District revitalization continued, Scharton and the Downtown Fresno Partnership hopes to continue to attract new business and investors to revive the downtown area.

For more features, read Fulton District is open for business and Staff, students share benefits of bilingualism. For more news articles, read Home ec. students learn how to avoid, deal with conflict.

Sam Cross can be reached via Twitter and via email.