City Committee to Hear Details of New General Motors Design Studio in Pasadena

Pasadena’s Economic Development and Technology Committee will hear a report at 5:30 p.m. on March 15 about the General Motors Design Studio being built in Pasadena.

In July, General Motors announced a more than $71 million investment to establish a property in Northeast Pasadena. The move will substantially increase the design division’s capacity and workforce.

Pasadena Now first reported that GM bought the Sierra, a 150,000-square-foot campus, located on an eight-acre property at Rosemead Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, for $49.5 million.

GM selected the Pasadena campus after a search process which considered a number of other locations elsewhere.

The improvements to the facility are scheduled to be completed this year, Mark Lubin of GM’s product, brand and initiative communications team said last year.

The relocation to Pasadena is part of GM design’s broader global expansion. The company has announced new facilities at the Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, and an expansion of the Advanced Design Center in Shanghai, China.

The relocation from North Hollywood to the Pasadena location, will significantly expand GM’s capacity to support emerging business opportunities in areas of advanced technology, software integration and future mobility solutions.

GM’s design team will transition from the North Hollywood facility as portions of the new facility are completed, rather than all at once. Advanced design operations will continue at the North Hollywood facility until the improvements at the new location are completed.

GM’s advanced design team focuses on developing concept and future mobility projects that fall outside the scope of existing production vehicle programs, according to the statement.

GM has a long history of design facilities in California, including the Advanced Concept Studio in Newbury Park from 1983-1996 and the current North Hollywood studio, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Nesbitt said they’ve outgrown that studio and faced a number of constraints there. There are about 65 to 70 employees at the North Hollywood location. GM representatives said they’re not yet announcing how many more employees will work in Pasadena.

Much of that design work will be focused on advancing GM’s plan for an all-electric vehicle future.