PARK PLACE WINS GOLD!

The Business Journal honored Tutelian and Company in this years Central California Real Estate Awards with a gold in the new retail category! Thank you Business Journal!

A WELCOME FACE-LIFT
Article: The Fresno Bee, Section C, August 30, 2007
By Bethany Clough

The renovation of a vacant, two-story building at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Inyo Street is the latest in a string of remodels at the downtown intersection.  Developer Cliff Tutelian plans to turn the 1922 building at the northeast corner into shops on the first floor and offices or housing on the second. 

Across Inyo, United Security Bank opened its headquarters in the former Butter-fields Brewing Co. earlier this year.  And Vintage Square in the south-west corner, consisting of a thrift shop and newly opened vintage clothing and furniture shops.  The Vintage Square owners plan to renovate the upper floors and also have been working on the building next door.

Tutelian has owned the building for seven or eight years but said he felt only recently that the time was ripe to develop it. Tutelian & Co. has finished gutting much of the building.  Architects and others are deciding how to proceed with the design of the building, Tutelian said. The original façade was covered up at some point, said Karana Hatersley-Drayton, the Fresno’s Historic Preservation Project manager.

Tutelian hopes to incorporate much of the building’s original architecture and design into the new exterior, he said.  Large baylike structures now face the street, the upper portions of which were filled with windows. “We’re going to figure out an attractive way to put glass back in there,” he said.

Once called the Droge building, named after the builder, the corner housed the California Peach and Fig Growers Association, a dry cleaner, tailer, liquor store and a café.  A paint store moved into the building in the 1950’s, Tutelian said. “Back then, when we were little kids, that whole area was hustling and bustling.” He said.

The corner is relatively quiet now, but the right type of businesses could serve downtown workers such as United Security Bank’s 50 employees, who are “very limited in what they can do in their lunch hour,” said Dennis Woods, bank president and chief executive. It’s one of the buildings that’s been blighted for a long period of time,” Woods said.  “I’m certain it will be a first class facility.”

Tutelian also plans to develop parts of Broadway Street, including the former International Trade Center that once housed Pacific Gas & Electric Co.  Tutelian recently removed the trade center letters from the building as part of the almost $6 million renovation.

The Tutelian family built Civic Center Square, the multiblock campus of shops, restaurants and offices north of the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center.  The family also recently sold the Villaggio shopping center in north Fresno.

DOWNTOWN RESTORATION - THE DROGE BUILDING SET FOR RENOVATION, DEVELOPMENT
Article: The Business Journal, August 27, 2007
By Michael Sullivan

Downtown Fresno is slowly gaining the fervor it once had decades ago as developers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore historic but dilapidated buildings.
           
The latest renovation project stands on the northwest corner of Van Ness and Inyo avenues.  First, a demolition crew will clear out the old and unusable, and then the refurbishment of the existing structure will commence.
           
“The restoration of the Van Ness and Inyo building will bring attention to the area and be a conduit for change in the adjacent and adjoining buildings,” said Cliff Tutelian, developer at Tutelian & Company.  “[We] are excited to be continuing our leadership in the renovation of downtown Fresno.”
           
Tutelian & Company began the construction project earlier this month with an expected completion date within the next 24 months.  The plan calls for a variety of retail establishments on the first floor, and office space on the second using the existing precast structure to build a new façade.
           
The structure, formerly known as the Droge building was built in 1922.  It was designed by James McCullough and developed by Peter Droge.  It once housed the California Peach and Fig Growers Association.
           
According to Karana Hattersley Drayton, the city of Fresno historic preservation project manager, details about the length of time the building has been vacant and other tenants are elusive.  Although, the building has been around for 85 years, it is not on the local register of historic places.
           
The city of Fresno Historic Preservation Commission denied the application and the consideration to be on the local register of historic buildings never went to council, perhaps because of the long list of changes to its façade over the years.
           
Tutelian & Company then swooped at the turn of the millennium and purchased the building for its investment potential.
           
The area along Van Ness Avenue and adjacent streets is on of the major hot spots for downtown renovations.
           
Danielle Cabral, executive director of the Downtown Association of Fresno, is excited to see so much activity happening in the downtown corridor.
           
“It is great,” she said.  “It will really spruce up that corner with the vintage boutiques, it will be a great retail mecca.”
           
Along Kern and Van Ness avenues, developers have invested huge amounts of capital to renovate.  Robert Campos, owner of the building where Fagans was housed, decided against leasing out the vacant space and went for a construction project of his won.  He has invested around $300,000 to create a new after-hours venue called the 2039 Ultra Lounge.  The venue also will serve as a lunch bistro called J. Del Carmen.
           
Developers have also invested in the restoration of the Hotel Virginia while retailers continue to operate on the ground floor.