Developers pitch five possibilities for Pasadena’s historic YWCA site
Julia Morgan, the state’s first licensed woman architect, may be best-known for her design of Hearst Castle in San Simeon, but she also designed the former YWCA building in Pasadena, pictured Jan. 17, 2012. Potential rehab projects have come and gone, but city officials are hoping to find one that sticks this time around. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini/SXCity)
By BRADLEY BERMONT | bbermont@scng.com |
Pasadena Star-News
PUBLISHED: September
24, 2020 at 4:18 p.m. | UPDATED: September 24, 2020 at 4:18 p.m.
Five developers pitched their respective visions to
restore and rebuild Pasadena’s historic YWCA building and the adjacent
municipal services building on Tuesday evening, both sites across the street
from City Hall.
Three nonprofit developers focused on affordable housing
plans for the former Pasadena Water and Power building. Meanwhile, two of the
three partnered with a pair of for-profit developers who both proposed a hotel
for the YWCA building.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is.
Proposals were already submitted once late last year, but
the process was restarted after a state law came into effect in January,
forcing the city to expand the pool of developers vying to build a project on
the city-owned sites.
The city intended to pick up the ball earlier this year,
but its plans were disrupted by a global pandemic — until now.
More than 150 folks tuned into a Zoom call with city
officials and developers on Sept. 22, weighing in on the various projects
before they’ll be analyzed by city staff and, eventually, brought to the City
Council which will award the contract to one or two developers.
“This is really exciting,” local housing advocate Anthony
Manousos said on the call. “It’s like choosing between three different kinds of
your favorite chocolate cake.”
Abode Communities and
Edgewood Realty Partners
Abode Communities, a
nonprofit developer based in Los Angeles, suggested building affordable housing
on the former Pasadena Water and Power site at 280 Ramona St.
“We are a neighbor, a community stakeholder and an owner
here in Pasadena,” the group’s president and chief executive, Robin Hughes,
said.
She explained they were using architect Brenda Levin —
who was behind affordable development Centennial Place — to design the 103-unit
building, which would be completely affordable.
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studio apartments would be reserved for residents making less than 30% of the
median area income. That’s about $520 per month, according to a presentation.
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one-bedroom apartments would be reserved for residents at the 30%-60% median
area income range with monthly rents ranging from $547 to $1,135.
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two-bedroom apartments would be reserved for residents at the 50%-60% median
area income range with monthly rents ranging from $1,123 to $1,358.
On the ground floor, they’re planning 2,400 square feet
of commercial space, hoping to install a cafe or coffee vendor that would serve
the city employees working nearby, according to Sara Tsay, vice president of
business development.
Additionally, there would be a sizable residential lounge
with a great view of Pasadena’s famed City Hall to “to encourage a strong
connection to City Hall,” Tsay said.
While
the plan could be accepted as a standalone project, Abode partnered with Edgewood Realty Partners,
a for-profit developer, which wants to renovate the YWCA site — a historic
landmark designed by California’s first licensed female architect, Julia Morgan
— and transform it into a hotel.
Edgewood proposed placing nine hotel rooms in the
historic site after renovation, then building a new wing to house 151
additional rooms.
Inside the YWCA, Managing Partner Peter Kutzer said the
group is “striving to reuse the space for which they were originally intended.”
For instance, the lobby would stay the lobby; the pool
would be restored to its former glory; a restaurant would be installed in the
old cafeteria, but with a new dining patio overlooking Holly Street.
The building’s historic courtyard “is a beautiful space
and one we want to explore,” Kutzer said.
Palisociety, a
hotelier company, would run the proposed business, Kutzer said.
“This civic center truly is one of the most magnificent
civic centers in the country,” Palisociety Founder Avi Brosh said. “We all want
to pay homage to that. … Running a hotel is not the real estate business —
running a hotel the way we do it is about connecting with the neighborhood.”
Bridge Housing and HRI
Properties
Using
a similar arrangement, nonprofit developer Bridge Housing suggested
affordable housing on the Pasadena Water and Power site while the for-profit
HRI Properties pitched a hotel for the YWCA site.
San Francisco-based Bridge Housing has built thousands of
units of affordable housing across the country, its presentation says,
including Pasadena’s Heritage Square.
Kim
McKay, executive vice president of Bridge Housing, said they partnered
with New
Orleans-based HRI Properties to ensure the YWCA development and
the affordable housing project would mesh with one another. Plus, it would make
the entire construction process more cost efficient, she said.
Bridge Housing wasn’t as far along in the design process
as its competitors, she said, explaining they wanted input from city officials
and residents.
While the Water and Power site would have 72 units of
affordable housing, HRI Properties’ chief investment development officer,
Michael Coolidge, said his company seeks to build a 179-room boutique hotel
site.
Of those, 165 rooms would be in a new building that would
be directly adjacent to a renovated YWCA building, Coolidge said.
HRI Properties has a large portfolio of hotels it has
designed and manage, including many for the Hilton, Mariott and Hyatt
companies, he said.
HRI Properties is seeking to “honor the historical legacy
of the YWCA building,” he said, using the spaces as they were historically
intended. There would be a ballroom, a meeting space, a revitalized outdoor courtyard
and a pool with a restaurant.
The new five-story building would neither dwarf the YWCA
building, he said, nor would it seek to mimic or copy it either.
Instead, the goal is to “compliment it and make it feel
like one integrated project at the end of the day.”
National CORE
Partnering
with Union Station Homeless Services, National Community Renaissance, a nonprofit affordable
housing developer based in Rancho Cucamonga, also wants to build affordable
housing on the Pasadena Water and Power site. It didn’t partner with anyone to
develop the YWCA site.
Working with Onyx Architects Pasadena, the nonprofits
plan to build a 112-unit building with 26 studio apartments, 78 one-bedrooms
and eight two-bedrooms, according to their presentation.
It would be 100% affordable, the presentation says,
ranging from 30%-70% of the area median income.
National Community Renaissance, also known as National
CORE, partnered with Union Station to build Marv’s Place, another affordable
housing site in Pasadena.
When a similar site was getting built in San Clemente,
Steve Pontell, National CORE’s president and chief executive, said residents
would regularly come up and ask folks on the worksite how they could get one of
these apartments.
Pontell would have to tell them they didn’t qualify,
though they’d frequently push back and say they had plenty of money — but
that’s exactly why they didn’t qualify, Pontell recalled telling them.
The site would be five stories and, similar to the other proposals, setup a corner-entrance that stares at Pasadena City Hall across the street.
It’s “quality housing in a good neighborhood” with
wraparound services to help its struggling residents, Union Station Chief
Executive Anne Miskey said.
She recalled a story of a homeless couple getting an
apartment in Marv’s Place. It had a domino effect, giving them a chance to get
jobs and stabilize their lives.
“Our goal is that our developments aren’t just landing
pads, but launch pads,” Pontell said. The end goal isn’t to have residents stay
in the affordable housing, but get folks back on their feet and into normal
life.
“We
have no shortage of demand.”
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