Hearing Officer to Consider Parking Variance at Former Twin Palms Site

A Pasadena hearing officer will consider an application for a parking variance at the former Twin Palms Restaurant, 85 W. Green St., at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Alen Malekian wants to construct a four-story, 20,962 square-foot mixed-use building where the restaurant formerly owned by actor Kevin Costner stood on the corner of West Green Street and South DeLacey Avenue, in Old Pasadena.

According to a staff report, restaurants would occupy the first floor and eighteen residential units would be on the upper floors, which would include four units for very low-income tenants.

The city’s zoning code requires a minimum of one off-street parking space to be located on-site for each residential unit in a new project.

“We are simply changing the project from office to mixed-use due to the pandemic and to better activate and support Old Pasadena,” said local Attorney Richard McDonald. “To do that, we need a variance for parking.”

The variance is being requested because the project does not include the construction of any on-site parking spaces, which means it will not provide the minimum required one on-site parking space for each residential unit, according to a city staff report.

The required parking space would be provided at an off-site location.

The project has undergone major changes this year.
The project’s owner, Sunshine Management Group, originally proposed a two-story, 14,008 square-foot commercial/office building.

That project had already passed concept design review. But in 2016, the Sunshine Management Group came under fire after reporters at the Pasadena Weekly, which was then located across the street, noticed the two namesake 35-foot tall canary palm trees on the property had been removed without the proper permits, a misdemeanor violation of the city’s tree ordinance.

According to past media reports, Sunshine Management failed to file its landscaping plan after being told that the plan for the renovation had to take into consideration the tree canopy. The trees were protected under the city’s tree ordinance by virtue of their size and species.

The company was forced to stop work until more than $7,000 in fines were paid.

The owner was also warned not to discard, remove or damage decorative grilles that are historic remnants from a Myron Hunt building demolished to make way for the Plaza Pasadena, the city’s first shopping mall.

Soon after the removal of the trees, the City Council approved modifications to the city Tree Protection Ordinance which increased fines for illegally cutting down protected trees.

The site, a one time auto garage, has been empty for the most part since 2009 when Twin Palms closed its doors after 15 years.

In 2008, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton held a fundraiser at the restaurant.