With Fresno library spat settled, supervisors prepare to vote on $7.8M lease

The conflict over a library branch relocating to a Fresno shopping center appears to be resolved as the Fresno County Board of Supervisors prepares to vote on a 10-year lease agreement.

The Politi Branch Library, which is celebrating its 50 ^th anniversary this year, hoped to move into the former 21,440 square-foot Rite Aid location at Bullard Avenue and First Street last year. But the move was challenged by the 99 Cents Only Store in the same shopping center based on lease restrictions for non-commercial uses.

Negotiations with the Los Angeles-based retailer to allow the library branch had been ongoing since at least October 2023 up until April of this year, when 99 Cents Only Stores announced it would immediately close all 371 of its outlets. The retailer cited the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in consumer demand, inflation and product “shrink” — loss from theft and other factors — as its reasons for closing after 42 years.

Library officials confirmed last week that a lease agreement was in the works but couldn’t be reached to elaborate Thursday afternoon on whether 99 Cents Only Stores’ closure was a factor.

What is known is that the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will consider signing a lease with the Jeff & Velvet Jue Family Trust worth up to $7.8 million in rent for the retail space, according to a county staff report.

The move would substantially increase the popular library branch’s current 5,016 footprint at the opposite corner of the intersection. Staff anticipate an estimated cost of $1.29 million to make improvements in the space to make it an operating library.