[Updated] This week the 100 West Walnut development will take a big step away from policy chatter toward construction talk.
On Feb. 1, Real Services Corp., will convene a local hire and business initiative outreach event at the American Legion Post #13 and is putting out a call to Pasadena residents and businesses with construction experience.
The event is about jobs for Pasadenans on what City Councilman John Kennedy calls “the largest real estate development project in the history of Pasadena.”
The event is the direct result of a development agreement reached between the City and Lincoln Properties, which is building the project owned by Lincoln Property Company and AMLI Residential.
The agreement calls for 20 percent of the labor that goes into constructing the project to be drawn from the local population, according to Elbie Hickambottom, a principal of Real Services Corp.
For more information about the Business Opportunity / Job Fair, click here
Real Services, Hickambottom explained, has been hired by Benchmark as consultant and intermediary to the local community.
“This is not a compulsory hiring program,” he stated. “It’s a volunteer program, but we are going to make our best effort to see if we can hire as many local folks as possible for the project.”
James Proctor is the senior program manager for Real Services. He told Pasadena Now in a Jan 28 interview that their tasks are threefold: first, to get local business involved in the project; second, recruit residents of Pasadena with the necessary experience for hiring on the construction jobs; and, third, bring aboard laborers who lack the necessary experience and get them the training so that they might join the three-year project at a later phase.
The Friday event, he said, “Is our initial outreach to the community. We’re slated to have a few more throughout the entirety of the project. We’ll be collecting information on their trade skills, vet them, and see where they fit into the project.”
For starters, Real Services has contacted Jaylene Moseley, president, Flintridge Center where there is a pre-apprenticeship program for former prisoners. The Pasadena Community Job Center on Lake Avenue has also been contacted. Hickambottom said he has plans to contact Pasadena Community College where there is a construction trades program.
The project is in Councilman Kennedy’s bailiwick, District 3, and, according to Hickambottom, he was instrumental in making the local hire agreement a reality.
Kennedy said in an interview that he will attend the outreach event adding that, “Lincoln properties has certainly kept its word every step of the way in terms of involving the community and making sure they’re seeking local hires, local sourcing of materials, and local contracting to the extent possible.”
The project will be built on the parking lots of the Parson’s Corporation campus. It will cover 6.4 acres and include a 210,000 square-foot, five story of Class-A office space (known as 10 West Walnut), 400 residential units, 17,500 square feet of retail and dining space, and three levels of below-grade parking.
According to City of Pasadena documents, the purpose of the project is to transform a suburban style campus with centralized buildings and expansive surface parking into “a pedestrian-oriented development with mix uses.”
The Class-A office building is intended to stem the loss of large companies leaving the city, while attracting top-flight newcomers.
Another goal is to, “create new buildings and open spaces that are compatible with the rich architectural history found in Old Pasadena with the existing Parsons building.”
The American Legion Post is located at 131 North Marengo Avenue in Pasadena. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Register at https://realservicescorp.com/?
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