First Tenants Move Into Salvation Army Hope Center

The first tenants moved into the new Salvation Army Pasadena HOPE Center on Wednesday.

The Diane and John Mullin Hope Center, a 65-unit housing project for the unhoused is located just east of Lake Avenue at 1000 E. Walnut Street.

The Salvation Army Pasadena Tabernacle broke ground on the roughly $32-million permanent supportive housing project in October 2021. The units are all single-room occupancy, other than the manager’s unit, above about 2,600 square feet of office space for service providers. 

Residents of the proposed building are single adults who meet the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of “homeless.” Fifteen of the units will be reserved for veterans, according to the Tabernacle’s Major Roy Wild.

Carde Ten Architecture and Consulting in Culver City designed the project which mixes Art Deco architecture with contemporary design. Plans show a low-rise building with a white-stucco exterior, with residential amenities such as a yoga room, a courtyard, a library, and multiple outdoor decks.

The 65 supportive housing units are on the second, third and fourth floors of the Hope Center. The first floor will house Salvation Army Social Services operations and include program space for emergency assistance and casework. The centerpiece will be a new client-choice food pantry where clients, accompanied by a volunteer or staff member, can select their own groceries.

The Hope Center is named after Diane and John Mullin, who first began bellringing for the Salvation Army in 1993, and in 2021 gave a sizable gift for the Hope Center project; While John Mullin tends to his lumber and development business, Diane hopes to be able to be on-site to help facilitate some of the cooking classes for the new residents when the Hope Center opens.

In October the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved $18.7 million in Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds for the project.

Earlier the Salvation Army obtained a $1 million loan from the City’s Housing Successor Low Income Housing Asset Fund to help pay for the project.