City Council Hears Plan for 550 Unit “New Community” in East Pasadena

East Foothill Boulevard between San Gabriel Boulevard on the west and Sierra Madre Villa Street on the east has long been a low-key commercial and industrial area most drivers impatiently hurry through to get somewhere else.

If a Texas construction company wins approval, that will change.

On Monday, the Pasadena City Council learned more about a plan by High Street Residential, a division of Dallas-based Trammel Crow, to construct a mixed-use residential project at 3202 East Foothill Boulevard at Kinneloa in East Pasadena, in a sprawling space currently occupied by the Space Bank Mini Storage facility.

The project is currently in the pre-development stage.

The 9.25 acre project, which was presented to the Council by Senior Planner Tracy Steinkruger, would contain 550 residential units, 549 subterranean parking spaces on two levels, 520 above-grade parking spaces on five levels), along with 12,100 square feet of commercial space.

Said Steinkruger, “The developer essentially hopes to create a new community within a well-established residential community.”

The developer, High Street Residential, according to its website, specializes in the development of multifamily housing, with a background in urban, infill mixed-use residential development, as well as the redevelopment or repurposing of existing facilities. The Company has completed 5,000 units in over $1.2 billion in value with a current pipeline of more than 4,500 units valued at $1.8 billion, over the past decade.

The project, which is located within the East Pasadena Specific Plan, would involve demolishing all the existing structures on the site, and construct a new primary site access on East Foothill Boulevard via a continuation of Santa Paula Street. Commercial credit would also be given to the East Pasadena Specific Plan area for the demolition of existing structures on site.

The planned development would include on-site amenities dispersed throughout the site such as courtyards and park-like open space areas, according to the Planning and Community Development report.

The upcoming design review process would also study the possibility of including additional pedestrian-oriented commercial frontage space along the entire site facing East Foothill Boulevard, “to ensure the primary street frontage site maintains visual continuity and encourages and enhances pedestrian activity,” according to the Planning Department.

The Planning Department, along with the developers, will also be considering the possibility of using variations in the building heights between the southern edge of the site, adjacent to the Foothill Freeway and the northern edge adjacent to East Foothill Boulevard, to “respond to the lower level commercial development on the north side of East Foothill Boulevard and the single family residential beyond.”

The project would also be subject to City’s Inclusionary Housing Requirements of 55 Low Income Units and 28 Moderate Income Units for a total of 83 units. The developer has not made a final determination on how the Inclusionary Housing requirements will be satisfied. According to the planning department, the developer might also pay a considerable fee to the city in lieu of providing affordable units.

Councilmember John Kennedy, however, emphasized the importance of providing affordable units as opposed to any payments.

A traffic study is also planned for the development, with traffic counts planned for when local schools are in session.

The project will also require a CEQA analysis and an Environmental Impact report, as well as Planning Commission public hearings and recommendations. The project would then go to a City Council Public Hearing for approval of the CEQA analysis, as well as final approvals by the Design Commission, before finally being heard for approval by the full City Council, most likely next year.