Pasadena WELCOME HOME

Pasadena’s Playhouse District has taken on new life in recent years, with the addition of several mixed-use buildings featuring commercial offices, apartments and ground-floor retail space. Two of its latest developments are now rising just blocks apart along Walnut Street. At Walnut and Hudson Avenue, developer Greystar Real Estate Partners is midway through construction on the Hudson, a collection of three-to-five-story buildings which will feature 91 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments above ground-floor retail space.

Architecture firm Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED) has unveiled renderings for the residential component of the 100 West Walnut development, a mixed-use complex slated for the parking lots surrounding the Pasadena headquarters of the Parsons Corporation. AMLI Residential, a Chicago-based firm partnering on the development, is planning up to 475 residential units in a series of five-and-six story structures near the intersection of Walnut Street and Fair Oaks Avenue. Renderings of the project, which has been dubbed AMLI at Old Pasadena, portray contemporary buildings clad with brick facades centered around pedestrian passageways and large outdoor gathering spaces.

Plans to redevelop the surface parking lots surrounding the Parsons Corporation’s Pasadena headquarters have taken another step forward. Earlier this month, the city’s design commission approved the 100 West Walnut development, which would create a series of five-and-six-story buildings along Fair Oaks Avenue and Walnut Street. The project, which is being developed by Lincoln Property Company and AMLI Residential, will feature approximately 210,000 square feet of office space, 17,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and as many as 475 residential units.

Construction is nearing completion on Playhouse Plaza, an office and retail complex located on Pasadena’s bustling Colorado Boulevard. The $75 million project, named for the adjacent Pasadena Playhouse, is being developed by Los Angeles-based IDS Real Estate Group. The five-story edifice at 680 Colorado Boulevard will contain approximately 155,000 square feet of office space on its upper levels. Plans also call for a series of shops and restaurants on the building’s ground floor, served by 367 parking spaces in an underground garage.

Construction continues for a new Residence Inn by Marriott at the northern edge of Old Town Pasadena. The project, which is being developed by real estate and construction firm R.D. Olson, will feature 144 extended-stay guest rooms and approximatley 1,000 square feet of meeting space. Planned amenities include a fitness center, an on-site market, a breakfast area and an elevated pool-and-spa deck. According to a 2014 press release, designs from ACRM Architects call for a five-story structure with stylings that evoke a “playful rendition of the arts and crafts heritage of Old Town Pasadena.“ The Mediterranean architecture will feature parapets and tiled gable roofs, plaster walls, and large multi-story windows which allow natural light to enter the building.