Heritage Square South Project Goes Before Design Commission for Final Review

Pasadena’s Design Commission is conducting a Final Design Review on Tuesday, Feb. 22, on the Heritage Square South project. The applicant, BRIDGE Housing, Inc., is seeking the City’s approval to build a new three-story mixed-use building which will primarily be permanent supportive housing for seniors when completed.

The project site, at 710-738 N. Fair Oaks Ave. and also 19-25 E. Orange Grove Blvd., is City-owned land that will be subject to a 99-year ground lease, according to a development agreement that the Pasadena City Council approved on May 18, 2020.

As discussed in previous meetings and a series of public consultations starting in 2019, the Heritage Square South project will be a three story mixed-use building with 65 to 70 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless seniors, 10,000  to 15,000 square feet of retail space mostly on ground level, and both surface and subterranean parking. On-site, intensive case management services will be provided to the tenants, including counseling, assistance with healthcare, independent living skills support, on-site activities, and other services.

The latest revised plan for Heritage South indicates the project will consist of three separate buildings that surround a central courtyard garden, with the structurally separated but visually and functionally connected through a series of circulatory catwalks.

A semi-public forecourt will be located along East Orange Grove Blvd. and North Fair Oaks Ave. corridors and will act as a transitional space between the public right-of-way and the private centralized courtyard gardens onto which the ground-floor units open directly.

The project will use an existing drive aisle on the north end of the project site, and shared with the adjacent sister development, for access to the project’s new northern surface parking lot.

For this Final Design Review, the Department of Planning and Community Development listed a number of conditions, many of which refer to a plan to remove one protected native tree and three mature trees, and the need to plant a total of 36 new trees in 24-inch, 36-inch, 60-inch and 84-inch boxes as part of a proposed landscaping plan for the project.

The other conditions refer to submission of a clear construction-level planting plan indicating the locations of all proposed plantings, and specifications of the proposed brick cladding, stucco finishes, and other construction details.

A staff report containing those conditions and other requirements showed the Planning and Community Development Department is recommending approval of the application for Final Design Review, with conditions listed to be reviewed further by Department staff during the Building Plan Check phase.

Tuesday’s Final Design Review will be part of deliberation during a special meeting of the Design Commission which begins at 4:30 p.m.

Members of the community may access the meeting through https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81197751683 or by calling (669) 900-6833 and using the webinar ID 811 9775 1683.

Public comments may be sent by email to mtakeda@cityofpasadena.net. Public comments will also be allowed during the live online discussion.