A Fresno tech company dedicated to rebuilding the city’s core is at it again, breaking ground Tuesday on it’s biggest project yet.
Bitwise Industries is converting an old downtown warehouse into a massive mixed use building for businesses, restaurants and entertainment space.
For Bitwise and the company handling construction, connecting Fresno’s past to its future is very exciting, and sometimes if you want to build something special, you have to first tear something down.
“Almost from the jump, we fell in love with this building and what was possible here,” says Jake Soberal, CEO of Bitwise Industries.
The historic State Center Warehouse building was built in 1908 and used as a fruit packing facility. Now, Soberal is turning it into a home for high tech companies, and more.
“Not just technology companies, but restaurants, and law firms and conference centers can all interact in the same building and create a really, really rich vibrance,” Soberal explains.
While leading a tour, marketing specialist, Channelle Charest, says, “The great thing about this floor is that there are windows everywhere.”
There will be two floors, a basement, and an open roof space that will soon be a conference center and amphitheater with clear sight lines of downtown.
“So we want to give everyone the best view of Fresno possible, and we’re looking at providing things that don’t already exist in the city,” Charest says.
At 100,000 square feet, it will be the tech company’s largest project.
And like their other projects, it’s a love letter to historic Fresno, which also excites the construction company turning plans into reality.
“We think it’s terrific that a historic building in Fresno can have a new life with a new purpose, and for something as important as high tech for our community,” says Paul Quiring, the project’s contractor.
The building is expected to be ready for companies to move in by mid to late 2020.
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