A look inside $1 million eyesore in Fresno. Buddhist priest says why building incomplete
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By most accounts, it’s considered a neighborhood eyesore.
With overgrown weeds and yellowed grass, the building itself is weathered and unfinished.
The overall structure, which features upside down trapezoid shapes, looks more like the base of a bridge or highway still needing to be built out.
Yet, this unique northeast Fresno property is estimated to be worth more than $1 million.
Realtors, investors and businesses call multiple times a week to inquire about purchasing what they might assume is an abandoned property.
Even the building’s architect, Arthur Dyson, admitted the property “just looks awful now and deteriorated.”
But according to owner Bill Eidson, there are valid reasons why his place looks the way it does.
What’s the story behind this million dollar monstrosity?
Eidson, 73, essentially has been in the midst of a lengthy house renovation.
The Fresno native has spent the past 14 years transforming what once was a one-story, single-family home built in 1976 into a modern Shingon Buddhist learning center.
“We have people who say it’s an eyesore; that it’s the stupidest looking building,” said Eidson, who owns the place but lives elsewhere in Fresno. ”You know, whatever. It hasn’t been sitting idle.”
At its root, the unkempt property on Nees Avenue just west of Cedar represents the struggle of a man’s passion and patience versus the need to invest more time and money.
Will Eidson’s persistence to see his project through — no matter how long it takes or how much it costs — beat out the more convenient route of selling the property and letting someone else fix it up?
Eidson’s property, which sits on 0.77 acres, is located between Woodward Park Church of Christ to its west and a Derrel’s Mini Storage to the east.
“At this moment,” Eidson said, “I’m not interested in selling.”
Learning Shingon Buddhism
At his northeast Fresno property, Eidson teaches and conducts training about Shingon Buddhism (also known as Japanese esoteric Buddhism).
People do not permanently live there, as some might assume when associating monks and Buddhism.
But Eidson does get overnight visitors from time to time, particularly those coming from out of town to attend conventions or seminars about Shingon.
Eidson said he is the only American Shingon Buddhist priest certified to train other Shingon priests in the United States.
A 246-page book by Taiko Yamasaki, who is considered as one of the world’s recognized experts in Ajikan and other forms of meditation, describes Shingon Buddhism as “the Tantric Buddhism of Japan.”
The book further explains that Eidson’s religious practice “teaches that it is possible to attain buddhahood immediately in life by performing certain practices of body, speech and mind.”
“Almost everyone you talk to is being stressed by the modern things of society,” Eidson said. “There are so many things Shingon can teach people:
“How to manage their life. How to manage anger. How to have compassion. How to have wisdom.”
Eidson has made 256 trips to Japan, primarily to learn from within the spiritual heartland of Shingon Buddhism.
Then, he returns to Fresno to spread the teachings.
Eidson said his property has helped graduate six full Shingon Buddhist priests and held numerous seminars.
“From the outside, people think nothing is happening,” Eidson said. “But from the inside, a lot has been happening.”
On-and-off renovations
Why hasn’t Eidson completed renovations?
He’s owned the place since 2006 and has been remodeling in stages since 2010, often dependent when money has been available.
Award-winning, veteran architect Dyson was brought aboard early on to turn what originally was a 6,359-square foot home into what’s become a 11,460-square foot structure.
On the internet, Eidson’s property is listed as the Shingon Buddhist International Institute.
“It was a ranch house originally and was going to be a mixed-use project,” Dyson said. “We used some ideas from the client to come up with the design. It was kind of a unique renovation. Every project I’ve been involved in has been different and becomes a new style within itself.
“It was interesting to see the composition; Bill just hasn’t completed it,” Dyson added. “Hopefully, he’ll finish it out and it’ll be an asset to the area.”
Eidson said he’s poured approximately $1.3 million into the renovations.
Among the renovations completed or partly done at Eidson’s property:
Building a library center detached from the original home.
Expanding the house to the east to include a large prayer area.
Expanding the house to the west to include a large meditation center, where religious mantras are performed.
Turning a garage into a practice area.
Installing a sunken bathroom that’s more commonly seen in Japan.
But like the outside of the building — where plywood was used as a cost-saving measure despite its tacky look — much of the inside of the property looks like a work in progress.
“Our vision is still here and we want to finish it,” Eidson said.
Neither Eidson nor Dyson thought it’d take more than a decade to complete the renovations.
Eidson cited time and money as primary reasons for the delays and the property not always looking well maintained.
In particular, Eidson noted the rising cost of materials and labor.
He also said that the value of the Yen, Japan’s money currency, dipped significantly in the past 10 years in relation to the U.S. dollar, and impacted his earnings as a teacher overseas. Eidson and his wife have taught more than 1,200 classes (regarding Shingon) in Japan since 1992.
With classes in Japan having been reduced in size since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and still slow to come back to full capacity, Eidson estimated it’d take teaching six times as many classes today as it did before 2014 to make as much as renovations currently cost in Fresno.
On top of rising costs, Eidson has experienced health problems over the years, including prostate cancer and two heart attacks.
Eidson, nonetheless, believes the finish line is near.
He is a man of faith and kindness, having been raised as a Christian but finding inner peace and wisdom through Shingon Buddhism.
In his eyes, the property is about 90% complete. He estimates the remainder of renovations can be completed in the next six to 12 months.
“Of course, it will be,” Eidson said.
The grass area might never be green, since Eidson believes in watering only vegetation that can produce food.
The weeds, though, he said will be cut at some point.
Eidson has plans to replace the plywood with stainless steel as originally part of Dyson’s redesign. The American Shingon priest also wants to get rid of the water markings on the outside walls, and organize and decorate the inside of the property, including filling his expansive library with 150,000 books.
Maybe then, this northeast Fresno property might no longer appeal to investors who are looking to flip distressed properties — and instead, it can attract those curious and wanting to learn more of “the way to enlightenment” through Shingon Buddhism.
“When I started this project, I thought it was a good purpose for using my social security money toward,” Eidson said of building Shingon Buddhist learning center. “I still believe that.
“I believe this facility can serve a purpose for the Fresno community.”
