The Club One Casino cardroom in Fresno, California has, after 25 years at the downtown location, decided to relocate to Granite Park, also within city limits. The main cause is the 16 month closure that was forced on the card club by Covid-19.
The owner of the cardroom, Kyle Kirkland, will offer 25 card tables at the new location, dining, and a bar. The building has a 33,000 square foot capacity, of which 13,000 will be used initially while renovations take place on the remaining square footage, which would allow as many as 51 tables.
Kirkland calls the relocation and renovation a “hard reset.”
Kirkland will need to obtain the city council’s approval for his plans. He already has the recommendation of City Manager Tommy Esqueda. The city estimates that the club will generate more than $1 million in taxes annually at the new location. Once he has the council’s approval in his pocket, Kirkland will finish the purchase of the building. Kirkland hopes to reopen in about a month.
The new location was a former nightclub, Club Imperio.
Kirkland told the Fresno Sun, “Club One was a pretty good operation downtown. We’ve been down there for a pretty long time.” He added, “If anything, closing during Covid was sort of a chance to do a hard reset, a free coupon to really say, ‘If we were ever going to have a time to look somewhere else, now’s the time to do it.’”
According to Kirkland, one problem with the downtown location was the lack of outdoor space, something definitely not true about the new location. He told the Sun, “Now I don’t want to operate somewhere where I don’t have the opportunity to get outside. We’ve got a ton of outdoor space, we obviously have parking lots, a big patio – here’s ways where we can mitigate the pain.”
