Development Agreement Between City and Developer Could be Amended

The City Council on Monday will consider amending a development agreement between the city and a local developer that has fallen short in local hiring and participation quotas.

As part of the local hiring agreement, Lincoln Properties said 20% of its hires on the 10 West Walnut project would be from the local community, 20 percent of its contracting would be local, and that there would 15 percent sourcing of materials on a 210,000-square-foot, five-story mixed-use project that includes 400 residential units and three levels of below-grade parking on the campus of the Parsons building in Old Pasadena.

Only 112 local residents, 6 percent of the workforce, were hired, and Pasadena-based businesses signed contracts totaling $14,282,996, or 7 percent of the total contracting.

In addition, $6,741,624 was spent on materials and supplies from Pasadena-based businesses, or 8 percent of the total materials used on the project.

Representatives from Lincoln Properties did not return emails when contacted by Pasadena Now.  

“It appears that the leadership of Lincoln Property never had any real intent to keep its commitments to the City Council, city staff, and the Pasadena community,” said District 3 Councilman John Kennedy, who represents the project area. 

“I suppose that part of the problem is that the city staff believed that the human beings who comprise Lincoln Property would ‘do the right thing,’ given that the city staff and council were struggling hard to green-light the project. Therefore, Lincoln Property offered to provide what most believed were real benefits to the community. It is now obvious that Lincoln Property was blowing smoke.

“Lincoln Property must be held accountable for taking food out of the mouths of children, workers and businesses in Pasadena,” Kennedy said. 

“The banker for Lincoln Property, Morgan Stanley, has the capacity and know-how to make good on the negotiated and agreed upon:20% local hire, 20% local contracting, 15% local sourcing of materials, all for Pasadena. All told, Lincoln Property was to write a check for $70 million dollars to Pasadena. The check may exist somewhere, but Pasadena has never received it,” Kennedy said.

“Lincoln Property has offices in Washington, DC, and Pasadena has several friends in Washington who would like to know about the shenanigans Lincoln Property is engaged in,” Kennedy said. “Lincoln Property must stop the abuse of Pasadena and deliver on its commitments. It is really that simple!”

Possible changes include revising the agreement language to require a minimum percentage of local hires and local contracting or develop an alternative approach to maximizing investment in community hiring and contracting opportunities to apply to Phase 2 of the project.

The council could also vote to create a new condition requiring the applicant to partner with a local nonprofit and labor unions in order to develop and maintain a comprehensive apprenticeship program for Pasadena residents, including skills training and job placement.

Another possibility is the creation of a new condition requiring a direct financial contribution to local nonprofits, community organizations, or city capital improvements to partially offset the failure to meet agreed-upon goals for local hires and procurements.

Both sides would have to approve any amendments.

According to the staff report, Lincoln Properties originally hired Clarence Broussard to assist with local hiring and local contract procurement. Broussard worked on the Rose Bowl, built the Jackie and Mack Robinson Memorial, and advocated for hiring the disadvantaged. He died on February 21, 2019.

After Broussard died, the developers hired Ron Matthews and then former Assistant City Manager Prentice Deadrick, who owns a project management company specializing in construction and community outreach.

Both men helped the company improve the local numbers, the city was not happy with Lincoln Properties’ inability to hit the local hiring quota. 

“Although the applicant instituted a local hire and procurement program, it woefully underachieved reaching the stated goals for local hire of workers, local hire for businesses and purchase of local materials,” states the report.