New center will offer housing, entertainment

By Rebecca Martin
The Collegian

Construction begins on a new complex near Fresno State at the end of this year, featuring a movie theater, shopping complex, and apartments.

The 14-screen theater will be Campus Pointe Center’s main attraction, and the first building constructed.

The university has yet to approve the Center, though Shirley Armbruster of University Communications said it will more than likely pass.

“I know there are still a few things that have to go through the Chancellor’s office,” Armbruster said.

With the center to be located between the Save Mart Center and Highway 168, the project will take up 45 acres of land. Wallace Theater will be the anchor business of the project, according to a Fresno State News release.

Wallace Theaters has 58 different theatres in 12 of the United States. The theater will be within walking distance of Fresno State, and its individual theaters may be used for lecture classes.

In addition to the theater, the Center will also feature three types of housing projects, with one being geared specifically to college students.

The college student housing will consist of 192 four-bedroom apartments. Each bedroom will have its own bathroom, and each apartment will have two kitchens, Dave Fisher, president of the Apartment Renovation Group, said to the Fresno Bee in an article published in early August.

The rental price for the apartments is unknown, although Fisher told the Fresno Bee they would be comparable with on-campus housing.

Students expressed mixed feelings regarding the new options in housing for students at Fresno State.

“I think it would improve housing,” sophomore linguistics major Katie Matas said. “People like different options. I think they would consider it.”

Some students said prices comparable to on-campus housing may be too expensive for college students.

“I would prefer to live in an apartment instead of the dorms, but I could probably find one cheaper elsewhere,” Shanna Albert, a sophomore living on-campus, said.

Those living in the apartments will also have access to a clubhouse featuring racquetball, basketball and volleyball courts, a game room, a weight room, and an area for watching movies, Fisher said.

The Center is also set to include a 120-room hotel, which Fresno State could use as a meeting space for different university events. The hotel will be built by Lewis Wolff, who owns other property including the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and the Carlyle in New York. One of his groups bought the Oakland Athletics in March.

The Center will also feature spaces businesses can rent, similar to the River Park shopping center, Ed Kashian, general partner of Kashian Enterprises LP, told the Fresno Bee.

The complex will be open and have parking throughout the shops, but will also have walkways between Fresno State and the Center.