The future of downtown Fresno’s Bank of Italy building is hanging in suspense after proposed plans to renovate the building have stalled.
In October 2022, an agricultural technology coalition led by the Central Valley Community Foundation announced plans to renovate the building and use it as a hub for agricultural start-ups and other ag-related innovation projects. The coalition, known as F3, received a $65 million federal grant through President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better program to invest in ag innovation in the region.
But the cost of critical upgrades and federal funding restrictions jeopardizes this would-be renovation plan for the building, which has been vacant for more than five decades.
“The renovation cost of the building is just massive,” Scott Anderson, project manager for the building’s owner, The Penstar Group, said in an interview. Anderson said conversations with the F3 coalition are still ongoing, but the group is open to entertaining other interested offers.
“We want to see this building active more than anyone,” he said.
In a statement, representatives from the F3 coalition said they still envision downtown Fresno as the “ideal location” to headquarter their agtech hub.
“The Bank of Italy remains a strong candidate for an agtech hub, but the costs of renovating a historic building are extremely high and were not eligible for the federal grant funds received. We continue to actively fundraise and search for grant funds that could support a project like this,” F3 Initiative Spokesperson Natasha Biasell said in a statement.
Scott Anderson, second from left, project manager for The Penstar Group, outlines plans for development of the Bank of Italy to U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, second from right, with Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to the left, and Fresno State president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval at the far right on a tour of the historic building Friday morning, Oct. 14, 2022 in downtown Fresno.
The eight-story, 17,665-square-foot building was constructed in 1918 for the Bank of Italy.
The building is featured on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places for its Italian renaissance architecture. It has been vacant since 1973, after the Bank of America moved out, Anderson said.
In 2009, Fresno developer Tom Richards, president and CEO of The Penstar Group, purchased the building for an undisclosed price, according to Bee archives.
Bank of Italy building needs major work
Anderson said the interior needs to be gutted and renovated to create a Class A office space in a historic building shell. There’s “not one operable system in the building,” he said.
But even taking advantage of new market and historic building tax credits, he said, the cost to renovate is still a challenge.
“The cost to renovate some of these older buildings has been extraordinary,” Anderson said.
Anderson has publicly stated the estimated cost to renovate the building was around $35 million as of late 2022.
A pedestrian passes by the classic architecture of the closed Bank of Italy building bathed in light from a Grizzlies game on the night on May 7, 2011.
These renovation costs make it hard to rent, he said. Renovation costs on a historic building like this are similar to the costs of a historic building in major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles or San Francisco, he said. But those major metro markets can charge higher rents than in Fresno to offset renovation costs, he said.
“That’s a big, big problem,” Anderson said.
Over the years, Fresno locals have debated on social media how they’d like the building to be repurposed. Some say they’d like to see housing or lofts in the Bank of Italy building.
Chris Rocha of Vintage Fresno, an initiative dedicated to highlighting the city’s history, said he’d like to see the space restored a boutique hotel with a first-floor restaurant like Fresno’s popular farm-to-table Heirloom, and a second story rooftop cocktail bar.
“It’s a recognizable historic landmark with beautiful architectural details, and it’s location on Fulton —close to the ballpark and the future high-speed rail station— makes it a natural fit for visitors,” he said in a statement.
Bank of Italy building, left, and the Pacific Southwest Building, right, photographed on Nov. 22, 1996.