Nine Happy Families Move Into New Desiderio Homes on Saturday

A weekend dedication ceremony on the eastern floor of the Arroyo Seco marked the end of a long journey for San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity and the City of Pasadena and the beginning of new ones for nine fortunate families who moved into homes they themselves helped to build at the Desiderio project.

The Saturday morning event celebrated the completion of the homes and welcomed the homebuyer families into their handsome new Craftsman-style-inspired homes arranged on a landscaped plot of land directly north of the Colorado Street Bridge.

The nine families themselves were part of the construction team that worked on the project over the past two years.

Each of the families invested about 500 hours of sweat equity towards the purchase price of their new homes. Three of the nine affordable bungalow courtyard residences will now be home to military veterans and their families.

Work on the project started in April 2016 after the City and the U.S. Army demolished most of the structures on the property that used to be the Desiderio Army Reserve Center at Westminster Drive in Pasadena.

The facility was named after U.S. Army Captain Reginald Benjamin Desiderio, who fought as a company commander in the Korean War and was killed in action on November 27, 1950. For his actions that day, Captain Desiderio was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

The U.S. Army declared the facility surplus and recommended it for closure in 2005. After lengthy public hearings, the City of Pasadena decided to convert the property into a new neighborhood park and affordable housing.