Colorado-Hill Hotel Project Coming Back to Design Commission

In an information item, the city design commission will receive an update on a 375-room hotel project at the site of a former car dealership at Colorado Boulevard and Hill Avenue, near Pasadena City College.

The project was last before the commission in 2019. 

“Due to the duration of time that has transpired since the most recent Design Commission review of the project, and a request by the applicant to modify a design related condition of [Planning Department] approval, at the March 23, 2021 Design Commission meeting staff will present an overview of the project history and the designs previously presented to bring the current Design Commission up to date on the project scope and the designs previously presented,” according to a city staff report. “Staff’s presentation will be in advance of a concept design review hearing which will be held in the near future.”

The project includes subterranean parking and a mixed-use building with 40,916 square feet of commercial space, 49 residential units, and subterranean parking on the southerly parcel.

The project originally included two hotels, but a conditional use permit for a hotel on the north side of Colorado Boulevard was not approved by the board of zoning appeals on Nov. 6, 2019. 

Now the structure will be a mixed-use building. 

Since the project has been around for several years, some commissioners may not be familiar with its history, according to local attorney Richard McDonald. 

“We need to sort of educate the design commission on the history on the project,” McDonald told Pasadena Now on Sunday. “There are a lot of new commissioners. We want to make sure they are fully briefed.”

The project, developed by J&K Plus Investments, will sit on the former site of the Robert H. Loud Ford dealership. Two buildings — a north parcel and a south parcel — will face each other across Colorado Boulevard at Holliston Avenue.