What's up with Javier's restaurant? Work on empty Fresno building started, stopped
The restaurant's owners held out hope they could reopen the nearly 50-year-old restaurant, but it never happened.
Now major work is happening on the building, leaving Fresnans driving by on busy on Kings Canyon Road to wonder what's next for the high-profile spot.
The Bee did some digging and though very few people could be reached for comment, we found some details about the status of the building — including some drama involving illegal work done on the property.
The restaurant closed last summer, three years after founder Louis Duran died at age 88. He originally started the business in 1974 in a different building down the street, eventually moving it to its most recent location in a former bank.
His family took over running the business.
They sold the building in March for $2.2 million, according to county records. The new owner is a limited-liability company based in Bakersfield.
Over the past few weeks, work on the building has drastically changed its look.
The awnings that covered the patio out front are gone. So is the fencing that surrounded the patio. The palm trees in front were cut down.
The interior of the building has been stripped clean.
Heavy construction equipment and a dumpster have been on site, the building surrounded by fencing.
But the new owners didn't have permits for the work, according to the City of Fresno.
On June 10, the city inspected the property and 'red-tagged' it, issuing a stop-work order, according to city spokesperson Sontaya Rose.
Now, the owners must pay four times as much when they apply for the permit they need, she said.
None of the people associated with the company that bought the building returned messages from The Bee, or could be reached for comment. The Duran family members who most recently ran the restaurant could also not be reached for comment.
City spokesperson Rose said the new owners started a draft application on the city's permit system for tenant improvements for a commercial use — but never finished or filed that application, she said.
'It looks to be commercial, not retail or restaurant,' she said, adding that the use could change if and when they file an application.
Regardless of the building's future, it does not appear Javier's Mexican Restaurant and its enchiladas and margaritas will ever make a comeback, noted another family member, Greg Rodriquez, the grandson of Louis and Lupe Duran, who once oversaw brunch at the restaurant.
'No,' he said. 'They're done.'
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