The approximately 330 acres of land recently sold in southwest Fresno for an estimated $14 million has a history of failed hopes spurred by developers, including by the Assemi family, known in the Central Valley for farming and housing construction.
After Assemi family members bought the residentially-zoned land now known as Mission Ranch in 2013, they successfully pushed the Fresno City Council to amend city law to allow large-scale commercial farming on land that was designated for homes. The Fresno Bee’s archived reporting shows southwest community leaders initially objected but were eventually convinced the farming operation on a huge portion of southwest Fresno’s residentially-zoned land would be temporary.
Granville Homes, today owned wholly by Darius Assemi, said then that a master-planned community was the long-term goal for Mission Ranch. The demand for its homes didn’t exist yet in southwest Fresno, but its day would come as the market rebounded, the firm said at the time, according to The Bee’s archives…