Pasadena Mixed-Use Project Slated To Replace Parking Lot Near L Line Station

Goldrich Kest is seeking city approval of a proposed transit-oriented mixed-use project for its planned redevelopment of a parking lot near Old Town Pasadena. 

The Central Park Apartments, as the project is called, would rise from the corner of South Fair Oaks Avenue and Dayton Street, right next to the Del Mar L Line station and Pasadena’s Central Park. 

The parking lot would give way to a new transit-oriented development with 84 new residential units, including 16 affordable units, and four live/work lofts, according to a statement from Goldrich Kest. The new apartment complex would share the block with the historic Green Hotel Apartments, which is also owned by Goldrich Kest, and the Castle Green, which is condominiums.

The new design for the Central Park Apartments, which was updated by Goldrich Kest after meetings with the city’s design commission, was inspired by an early 20th-century plan to expand the existing historic buildings on the site, which originally functioned as a hotel resort complex.  

“We set out to create new apartment homes that will meet Pasadena’s need for new mixed-rate housing while carefully considering the project’s location within a historic block,” Goldrich Kest Director of Development Emily Taylor said in a statement. 

Pasadena’s monthly apartment rents, like others in the pricier corners of the LA area, declined during the coronavirus pandemic but are on the rise again. The median one-bedroom rent in Pasadena was consistently above the $2.1K mark until April 2020, according to apartment rental site Zumper. Rents dropped to $1.85K in November, the site found, but Zumper’s February 2021 report shows that median one-bedroom rent has risen to $1.9K.

Year-over-year, median one-bedroom rents in Pasadena decreased 8%, putting the city on better footing than nearby Glendale, whose one-bedroom rents dropped 16% year-over-year, and the city of Los Angeles, which saw a 14% year-over-year decrease.

The Central Park Apartments project has been in the works since 2017. Goldrich Kest anticipates Pasadena's review process will take several months, and hopes the project will receive approval later this year, with the goal of beginning construction in 2022, Taylor told Bisnow via email.

UPDATE, MAR. 11, 11:10 A.M. PT: This story has been updated with project timeline information.