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View Winners → City of Pasadena Struggles to Placate Public Over Hotel Developments
News May 16, 2017
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The contentious Kimpton project is not over, Pasadena council will be presented with four modifications to the original plans next week.- Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Some Citizens Outraged at Seemingly Endless Growth
By Terry Miller
We recently published a brief story about another huge development planned for Pasadena at the corner of Union and Lake Ave. The Singpoli Group, an Arcadia based real estate and investment company said they will spend $60 million to develop the land they acquired last year.
Singpoli BD Development, LLC obtained the 1.6-acre shopping center which currently houses many small businesses including a Coco’s Restaurant in Jan. 2016. The plan is to create a mixed-use development of a flagship hotel, with 165 rooms alongside a 60-unit residential condominium site.
Singpoli said it expects full entitlement by the end of 2017 with construction to commence in 2018. Total construction cost is estimated to be about $60 million.
The proposed flagship hotel will house 165 rooms with average size of about 300 sq. ft. and feature a swimming pool and fitness facilities on its rooftop. The condos are for-sale units with a mix of 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units ranging in size from 900 to 1,500 sq. ft.
Singpoli also owns and operates the dusit D2 Hotel Constance Pasadena, located at 928 E. Colorado Blvd. That facility is currently being expanded to include more rooms, a multi-level parking structure, swimming pool, spa, and fitness center.
As with considerable objections from the public regarding the controversial Kimpton Hotel project, council will face a tough battle with this project.
However, Mayor Tornek said the Singpoli Group has done nothing wrong and followed all the procedural guidelines and spent a lot of money in the initial planning stages. “Who wouldn’t want a beautiful new hotel on that corner, right near a Gold Line Station and with walkability? There are other family restaurants one block away from where Coco’s now sits?”
Even though the Kimpton Hotel “boutique” project was put on hold in April, the potential developers and city officials will review basically three options according to Mayor Terry Tornek: accept the revisions to original proposal, put the project back out to bid or create a public building with no revenue to the city and at a very high cost. Mayor Tornek said these are the only options for Kimpton during the May 22 council meeting.
According to Marsha Rood, a vocal opponent to the over development in Pasadena said:
“City Council to reconsider “NO” vote on massive $30+ million subsidy to YWCA/Hotel Project. The City Council voted “NO” on April 3rd. Now they are back!
A massive public subsidy of a large 185-room, 6-story hotel continues to go up and up. A value of $30+ Million. And the developer said he expects to be back for even more subsidies!
Some City Council Members have stated very recently that the subsidy “is not real money.” Really? The subsidy is just the tip of the iceberg; the previously promised $8.3 million payment to the city has been scrapped, more parking for the Civic Center has been scraped and National Trust standards for the rehabilitation of historic properties will be significantly compromised. Added to that, the YWCA Building, the “Y” land, 94-year old open space in the Civic Center, and 136 parking spaces taken up by the Project in the parking-poor Civic Center are all going to be given away for free to the YWCA/Hotel developer, KHP III, LLC!
The YWCA’s Julia Morgan-designed pool in the YWCA building gets covered up, 30 trees and the five Sister City trees get cut down, Pasadena Robinson Memorial gets marginalized, traditional Civic Center open space gets lost, the city’s beautiful garden setting in the Civic Center gets dramatically diminished, and the rear of hotel faces the grand facade of City Hall. What more will it take for city to say, “Enough is enough, this deal stinks!”
Another strong opponent of development is Christle Balvin. In an email, Balvin told the Pasadena Independent:
“To me, Pasadena is on the horns of a dilemma and has made the wrong choice in trying to solve its problem. By catering to developers, many now coming from outside this country, our elected leaders have accepted the argument that any development, particularly high-end, is good because it helps increase our tax base. In doing so, our city now exceeds the Southern California Association of Government’s (SCAG) numbers for requisite new high-end housing developments while falling far short on affordable housing. In fact, affordable housing is being eliminated to make way for projects that will provide a more lucrative tax base. Why is the council doing this? Because of the potential budget gap caused by the need to pay out on public employee pension funds (CalPERS), a problem that is afflicting many cities, the county and the state. This important decision about how to fill the gap should not be made by the city council alone. Public meetings about the choices and options the city faces must be talked over with the community. For example, do residents of Pasadena really want or need five or six new hotels such as this one in the Civic Center (former YW) or the Singpoli project on Union and Lake? Does the public really want to tear down the affordable housing on the Fuller Campus to make way for more cheek-to-jowl apartments and condos? Are there other options such as negotiating with our public employee unions to reduce the number of fire and paramedic staff responding to each 911 call (currently six people)? Or could a tax on RBandB help fill the budget gap? Let’s talk about it and not be pressured by the lawyers now appearing regularly before the Council and speaking on behalf of their deep-pocket developer clients. That’s not the Pasadena Way.”
Mayor Tornek spoke with Pasadena Independent at length on Wednesday and was troubled by what some perceive as over-development but at the same time says he welcomes the discussion.
Tornek took particular exception to Marsha Root and Christle Balvin’s comments saying, “They should know better… both these women worked on the General Plan for over 6 ½ years and were present at zoning meetings. They know what the development policy is in the city’s General Plan…it’s disingenuous. Each of these proposed projects is consistent with the zoning plan.”
“Christle Balvin is not alone in the feeling that Pasadena is being developed too fast…but we are going by the General Plan that took 6-7 years to finalize,” the Mayor conceded.
Tornek went on to say, “ I understand peoples’ fear of change. I accept and welcome that discussion. But there are many ancillary benefits to all these projects like employment, cultural access, and business for surrounding businesses like restaurants etc.”
“The process we go through is critical, complicated with nuances,” Tornek said.
Seventy five percent of Pasadena is zoned for single family homes, Tornek said. Mayor Tornek also said that the city needs more hotels, particularly due to the Convention Center or any of the big events like the Rose Parade. “ Pasadena has become a ‘Destination Location’ and we’re in a Tug of War with (some residents) and a lot of misleading information.”
