Groundbreaking Wednesday Paves the Way for a $70 Million Paseo Colorado Makeover

A groundbreaking early Wednesday at Paseo Colorado marked the beginning of the first phase of a $70 million redevelopment of the shopping center at 300 E. Colorado Blvd. in downtown Pasadena Wednesday.

The first evidence of the project the public will notice is likely to be the demolition of the former 150,000-square-foot space that was previously occupied by Macy’s. The former Macy’s building is located on the east end of Paseo Colorado, bounded by Colorado Boulevard on the north, Los Robles on the east, and Green Street on the south.

Paseo Colorado Property Manager Michael De Leon also  announced the arrival of several new retailers and restaurants at the ceremony. Victoria Secret, Chico’s, Soma, White House | Black Market, West Elm and a new dinner theatre concept called The Rose will be leasing space in the new building.

The redevelopment of Paseo Colorado by owner DDR Corp. will include two major components.

The former Macy’s building will be replaced with two new buildings— a six-story, 179-room Hyatt Place hotel on the south end of the site along East Green Street and a seven-story building on the north end of the site, along East Colorado Boulevard, that will include a mix of restaurants and retailers as well as 71 for-sale residential units.

The demolition of the building that has long been an eye sore for proponents of a more pedestrian friendly Pasadena will occur by October 24.

The site has seen several renditions of economic development since the late 1970s. In 1980 an indoor mall called Plaza Pasadena dominated the land from Los Robles Avenue to Marengo Avenue. It was anchored by a  Macy’s and a J.C. Penny’s.

Paseo Colorado took strides toward reopening the pathway between the Convention Center up to the Central Library, but Macy’s remained as a looming and formidable wall that some say made Los Robles entirely unfriendly to walkers.

“This is a big day for me. When this project went up in 1980 it put a permanent scar in the city of Pasadena Civic Center. Gradually over time we’ve try to reintroduce the buildings back to the street, back to the citizens and back to a network of walkability,” Marsha Rood said.

Mayor Terry Tornek said jokingly in his remarks that Marsha Rood, who formerly worked for the planning department for the City of Pasadena, has threatened several times to demolish the building herself.

“Everything about [this development] represents the evolution in our city’s thinking about what new development should look like and how it can integrate in the heart of our of our civic center which is really a sacred space for a lot of people in Pasadena,” Tornek said.

“It has been sort of propitious timing. Yesterday morning at about 1:30 a.m., we adopted our general plan update to both the mobility and the land use element. If you look at projects like this, they fit hand in glove with the vision we have for Pasadena going forward,” Councilmember Steve Madison of District 6 said. “Economic development, transit friendly, and promoting everything that’s great about our great city.”

The second component of the project will include a comprehensive shopping center upgrade, featuring new storefront façades, walkways, lighting, flooring and landscaping throughout the property.

The existing pedestrian walkway in the interior of Paseo Colorado will be extended to the east to connect to Los Robles Avenue, making a better connection to the Playhouse District in the East.

The shopping center and Hyatt Place hotel are expected to be completed by the middle of 2017.

“We are excited to see the project through. It will be a great product in a great City,” Michael Moskowitz of Ensemble Real Estate Investments said, director of the investment group for the Hyatt Hotel.

DDR Corp. representative Brandon Glenn said the new tenants would complement the strong lineup of existing retailers and restaurants, which includes ArcLight Cinemas, Tokyo Wako, Equinox, DSW, Coach, Yard House and Tommy Bahama.

“The $70+ million investment in Paseo Colorado, combined with the addition of several new retailers, condos and the hotel, demonstrates the substantial appeal of the Pasadena market. Pasadena, in general, and Paseo Colorado, specifically, are very attractive to a wide variety of successful and growing national retailers due to their strong demographics and unmatched location,” Glenn said.