Developer of Proposed Apartment Building on North Mar Vista Avenue Would Demolish 4 Residences, Build 23 New Units

Pasadena’s Design Commission on Tuesday will look over a plan to demolish four residential units at 130-140 North Mar Vista Avenue and replace them with a three-story, 23-unit multifamily structure that will include one level of subterranean parking with 27 spaces.

Tuesday’s special Design Commission meeting is via video conference and begins at 4:30 p.m.

The plan involves the demolition of a single-family residence constructed in 1925 at 130 N. Mar Vista Ave., a single-family structure constructed in 1930, and a detached duplex built in 1946 at 140 N. Mar Vista Ave.

In their place will rise a three-story, 17,505 square-foot structure at which the applicant plans to offer 20 units of market-rate housing and three units of very low-income housing. The site is located two blocks south of the Foothill (210) Freeway, at the northeast corner of North Mar Vista Avenue and East Union Street.

A report by the Department of Planning and Community Development showed the site comprises two parcels with a total area of 15,426 square feet or 0.35 acres.

A tree inventory shows there are three on-site trees, one of which is protected by species and size. Additionally, there are five off-site public street trees located in the parkway fronting the two lots. As part of the proposed project, the applicant wants permission to remove the three on-site trees and protect the five public street trees.

The project site sits within a transitional block of varying residential architectural styles and development periods. West of the project site, across North Mar Vista Avenue, is a multifamily residential project constructed in 2016, in a Mediterranean Revival style. Directly abutting the project site to the east is a two-story, multifamily residential brick vernacular style building, constructed in 1929, which has been determined to be eligible for designation as an individual historic resource.

Directly to the north of the project site is another recent multifamily residential development constructed in 2007 and designed in a contemporary style, and to the south of the project site, across Union Street, is a Mid-Century Ranch style two-story apartment building constructed in 1959.

The existing buildings on site are currently not listed in the city’s resources database as eligible or designated historic resources, the report said.

The Planning Department has listed several potential issues that need to be threshed out at the Design Commission at Tuesday’s meeting. The plan is currently in the preliminary consultation phase of the city’s approval process.

To view the meeting, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84908848811 or call (669) 900-6833 and use the webinar ID 849 0884 8811.

Public comment may be sent by email to mtakeda@cityofpasadena.net prior to the day of the meeting, or through www.cityofpasadena.net/planning/public-comment.