Fresno approves amendment to Hotel Fresno owner participation agreement, increases affordable units to 80

The Fresno City Council and the city—s successor agency on Feb. 27 approved a fifth amendment to the amended and restated owner participation agreement with Broadway Plaza Family Apartments LP, clearing final financing for a renovation of the Hotel Fresno and updating the number of affordable units in the project.

City staff told the council the amendment recalculates loan repayment in line with state multifamily lending rules and updates the regulatory agreement to reflect 80 affordable units across the project, up from the originally planned 40 units. Staff said the recalculation recognizes the relative shares of lenders providing assistance to the project.

The joint meeting vote on the successor agency item passed 6-0; the city council later approved the city—s portion of the item 5-0. Mayor Jerry Dyer made the motion in the joint meeting; the council vote was moved and seconded by members on the dais, as recorded on the Feb. 27 transcript.

Staff said the city—s and state—s contributions are being rebalanced for repayment purposes. In the staff presentation, the speaker described the change as a recalculation that reflects the proportionate assistance provided by each lender under state unified multifamily rules; the transcript lists the city contribution as "1.5" and the state contribution as "4.0," with the presentation not specifying monetary units. The amendment also aligns the regulatory documents with the project—s final financing and affordability requirements.

City staff characterized the project as the final financing step for a roughly $40 million renovation of the Hotel Fresno. Council members and the mayor thanked staff, the successor agency and attorneys for completing a long-running effort that began years earlier.

Votes and formal actions appear in the record: the joint successor-agency action passed 6-0, and the separate city council action passed 5-0. The record does not list individual member vote choices by name.

The amendment updates the owner participation agreement, the regulatory agreement and the loan repayment schedule; staff said all units will serve households at very low income levels consistent with the regulatory documents. The council did not receive public comment on this item during the public-comment period recorded in the transcript.

The council and successor agency did not attach additional reporting requirements in the meeting minutes; staff indicated readiness to answer follow-up questions and to provide final executed documents to the clerk.

Further background: city staff described this as the final financing document for the Hotel Fresno renovation and said it increases the project—s affordable-unit total and adjusts repayment shares among lenders. No implementation dates were specified in the hearing record.