Panda Express plans to open a new restaurant in Fresno. Here’s where and when

Panda Express wants to open a restaurant on what is now empty land west of Highway 99.

The fast food Chinese restaurant had its conditional use permit approved by the city of Fresno to open a location at 4314 W. Ashlan Ave.

That’s just west of Highway 99, not far from Blythe Avenue, on the north side of the street.

Construction hasn’t started yet, but will as soon as the building department approval is received from the city, noted Lupe Sandoval, project manager for CRM Architects.

Panda Express has a quick construction schedule, she said. If all goes as planned, it aims to open in July 2024, selling its popular orange chicken, honey walnut shrimp and other Americanized Chinese dishes.

According to planning documents, the 2,450-square-foot restaurant would have a drive-thru.

Because the restaurant is in front of an assisted-living facility, the city required a trellis to block the view of the cars at the restaurant, Sandoval said.

It will be the 17th Panda Express in Fresno and Clovis. The company has more than 2,300 restaurants nationwide.

Another location is in the works in at Shaw and Peach avenues in Clovis. Plans call for an empty mattress store that one planning commissioner called a “total eyesore” to be torn down and the restaurant built in its place.

More new construction is also headed to the corner of Ashlan and Blythe avenues where the Panda Express will be built in Fresno.

A conditional use permit application has been filed for a convenience store closer to the corner. It would have a quick-service restaurant and a gas station with eight pumps and a 50-foot car wash tunnel.