On Thursday, Fresno City Councilmembers will weigh new land use plans for the developed part of southeast Fresno, which includes the fairgrounds, Fresno Pacific University, and the Mosqueda Center.

The city’s Central Southeast Area Specific Plan encompasses 2,000 acres in a triangular area from Belmont Avenue to Church Avenue and Orange Avenue to Peach Avenue. Of that, the plan changes about 119 acres of land, according to city documents.

The plan addresses housing and new commercial uses along the Cesar Chavez Corridor, the former UMC hospital site, and the former IRS processing center as it attempts to bring infill to some of Fresno’s older neighborhoods.

On Feb. 4, the planning commission approved the plan, despite ongoing environmental studies for five requests from landowners to keep their current uses. Commissioners recommended that the city council consider those changes.

Jose Leon Barraza, board member and founder of the Southeast Fresno Economic Development Corp., told GV Wire the plan has been sitting long enough and he wants it implemented.

He said the specific plan would be the first step in revitalizing the neglected neighborhood, including iconic blighted properties such as the Hanoian Market, the UMC site, and the IRS building.

“The city has to take action and one necessary step is approval of the plans,” Barraza said. “The plans have good ideas, but if the plans get completed by staff with community input and they sit idle on the shelves and nothing happens, it’s very hard to get interest on the part of investors.”

Plan Reimagines Cesar Chavez Boulevard

Sophia Pagoulatos, planning manager for the city, said at the commissioners’ meeting, “big ideas” came through about what to do with many of the area’s key locations.

The first focus for the city is Cesar Chavez Boulevard, which the city wants to turn into a “walkable, lively corridor,” Pagoulatos said.

The plan calls for new bikeways along the thoroughfare, consistent sidewalk construction, and new crossing improvements. Wide streets allow for easy transport from southeast’s biggest shopping hub at Cesar Chavez Boulevard between Chestnut and Willow avenues to the UMC building and the Fresno Fairgrounds.

In 2025, real estate developer Sevak Khatchadourian, known for revitalizing the Pacific Southwest Building in downtown, purchased the 33-acre UMC building from Fresno County. Plans then included medical clinics and apartments. Calls to Khatchadourian for updates on progress were not returned.

Down the street from the former hospital, the plan envisions turning the Asian Village shopping center at Willow Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard into a “regional destination” for ethnic food and entertainment by enhancing the streetscape.

Barraza said many business owners tell him about the need for better parking, improved street access, and facade improvement programs. He said the southeast development nonprofit helped get facade improvements for about eight different businesses in the area.

The city made available $1.5 million in facade improvement grants after the pandemic, using federal American Rescue Plan dollars, with about $173,000 going to District 5, a city representative said.

Barraza said that the district needs dedicated money to restore facades.

“Why is southeast Fresno not getting an allocation?” Barraza said.

Plan Calls for Development of Key Southeast Properties

Pagoulatos said community members wanted health food options, childcare, and more culturally competent medical services.

The plan also looks at other key areas. The Mosqueda Center and Hanoian Market would be neighborhood centers for Butler Avenue with the latter becoming a mixed-use shopping center.

It also intends to transform Orange Avenue — lacking long stretches of sidewalks — into a neighborhood “main street.”

In December 2024, GV Wire reported on some movement at the 60-acre IRS Processing Facility, which has been vacant since 2021. In November of that year, Carlsbad-based Roundtree Properties hosted a community meeting to begin the process of rezoning the property from medium-density to residential.

Developers estimated they could fit 400 single-family homes there. Now, the city envisions a technology/education campus to bring more job opportunities to the area.

Calls and emails to Roundtree Properties and Phoenix Fresno Industrial Investors LLC were not returned.

Property Owners Ask for Small Changes to Plan

The plan also creates more space for housing, increasing capacity for housing by 2,900 units, Pagoulatos said. A few people showed up to the meeting requesting small changes. One property owner wanted to keep their land at Tulare and Chestnut avenues as office rather than mixed use.

The owner of Maple Avenue Nursery would have his business rezoned under the plan, but Planning and Development Director Jennifer Clark said the nursery use would still be allowed under the new usage.

Others praised the plan, including Dirk Poeschel, principal planner with Land Development Services who represents a landowner at Chestnut and Florence avenues. Poeschel asked for the property to be changed to urban neighborhood to suit apartment construction.