Eulogy of the Nightmare, aka Another One Bites the Dust V2.0
I went downtown today to run some errands. I Parked at Broadway and Stanislaus to drop off some ArcHop flyers at the Broadway Studios. To my disappointment/terror/sadness, I saw that the Nightmare Building was demolished except for three walls. I stood there for a minute, running though the entire process that led to this point. Was this the only way? Did this building have to be demolished?







At this point I busted out my camera even though I had an appointment to meet Jack Kojikian for a tour of Hotel Fresno (more to follow in future post) There is something about decay and destruction that are both intriguing and repulsive at the same time. I am reminded of paintings by Nigel Robertson.





Well how did it get from the Cornerstone Hunted house to the wrecking ball (the use of a wrecking ball is unconfirmed, most likely just a backhoe) Well back in October of '06, Jarah wrote about the partial collapse of the building ( http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/3530 ) The collapse happened while the Fresno Fire Dept. was performing "standard training in the building" From that point the building as been shored up and fenced off.

Before any collapse had begun, back in July of '05, Cliff Tutelian ( http://www.tutelian.com ) had proposed a two block Broadway row project that included the Nightmare Building. Again Jarah was on it ( http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/45 ) "The Uptown vision may soon be before the city council, in the form of developer Tutelian and Co.'s Broadway Row project." But this project had some opposition including then greenhorn developer Reza Assemi and local business owners.

In the end the project fell through. Fast forward to 2007, The Broadway Studios/Cultural Arts Building has proven a success. Reza Assemi, partnering with another young developer, Will Dyke, had acquired three of the five Broadway Row warehouse buildings. And had negotiated with Cornerstone Church for the purchase of the last two in the row. Cliff Tutelian, feeling he was not given equal opportunity to purchase the buildings files a civil lawsuit against Corner Stone Church. This effectively kept Assemi and Dyck from closing escrow for the purchase of those buildings.

Other Tutelian properties in downtown include: a two-story building currently under renovation at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Inyo Street; the Trade Center; Civic Center Square; and the crumbling two story building on Broadway across from the Nightmare building.






At a a legal standstill, the Nightmare building continues to degrade from severe weather and a lack of maintenance. Then early this year a building in the Cultural Arts District next to Tokyo Gardens was torn down by the City of Fresno ( http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=5919726 ) Due to owner neglect/absence as well as risk to neighboring properties and public safety, A judge gave the OK to bring it down. Stories about that building at Van Ness and San Joaquin also gave ominous mention to the Nightmare building's status.

Reza Assemi's buildings next door were also on notice due to Code Enforcement and Public Saftey issues. He prodused structural engineering plans for the shoring and retrofit of the buildings so they were safe. Unfortunately, he could have done the same for the Nightmare building if he wasn't locked in escrow. Oddly enough, Cliff Tutelian's building across the street does not appear to be under the same scrutiny as neighboring buildings in a similar state of neglect and decay. Portions of the roof are visibly caved in, I've seen building debris on the public sidewalk below (falling debris is a public safety issue) and the ground floor is currently being used for parking.





And so the building is gone. Now I'm not cynical, I really want to believe that there wasn't anything underhanded going on here. But it is hard to ignore the conclusions I must draw from the facts I have. This building is history, and it didn't have to be this way. There was an awesome conceptual design by architect Paul Halajian of the Taylor Teter Partnership for these buildings. The model for it was on display at January's ArcHop:Unbuilt. I guess it's back to the drawing board.






Dissclaimers:
Reza Assemi is a friend of mine
Taylor Teter Partnership is my Employer