After 4-Year Delay, Pasadena to Decide Fate of Marketplace

The Pasadena Marketplace project, long seen as the cornerstone of Old Pasadena’s revitalization, has been on what some have called a long, bumpy roller coaster ride to nowhere.

For years, business people and city officials have watched as deals fell through, partnerships collapsed and optimistic plans sank into a quagmire of disputes.

“It makes my heart ache just looking over there,” said Sammy Zaribaf, owner of Rosicler’s, a restaurant facing the long, decaying block of buildings on Colorado Boulevard. “I personally have given up hope they will ever build it.”

After four years of delays, the Marketplace on Monday will go before the Board of Directors, which will begin a round of hearings to determine whether the project will be built and under what conditions.

It is a decision that developers, business people and historical preservationists say will decide not only the project’s fate, but also the shape of development in historic Old Pasadena.

The developers, Pasadena Marketplace Ltd., say the $60-million, 350,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center would provide hundreds of jobs, millions in tax revenue and would spark a vibrant redevelopment of Old Pasadena, where the project is widely supported.

But opponents, largely made up of historical preservationists, have waged a persistent campaign that attacks the project as oversized, phony and economically dubious.

“We are feeling more and more certain that this project is not going to work,” said Claire Bogaard, executive director of the historical preservation group, Pasadena Heritage. “We’re all afraid the city could end up with a white elephant that you wouldn’t be able to do anything with.”

The Marketplace was proposed in 1984 by developer John Patrick Wilson, who, with the financial backing of television producer Garry Marshall, purchased a block of turn-of-the-century buildings on Colorado Boulevard, west of Fair Oaks Avenue.

Wilson’s plan was to turn the block into a trendy shopping mall, with movie theaters, food stands and chic boutiques behind the facades of the old buildings. An antique trolley would run past the Marketplace and around the perimeter of Old Pasadena.

Unlike the rest of Old Pasadena, where buildings have been renovated one by one, stores in the Marketplace would be united by an enclosed walkway and alleys.

Developers say the historic ambiance of Old Pasadena and the chic collection of shops would create an environment that would draw shoppers from around the region.

The city invested $27 million to build two parking garages with 1,446 spaces for merchants now in the area, but more specifically for the expected onslaught of Marketplace shoppers.

Bruce D. Phillips, executive director of Pasadena Marketplace Ltd., said the project’s size is important.

A smaller project would not only be less profitable, but also fall short of becoming a regional attraction.

“There is a critical mass that will attract people to the whole area,” Phillips said. “The city knows and we know that you have to have a project like this to make it happen.”

The scale of the project is a major concern of historical preservationists, who say it threatens to overwhelm the rest of Old Pasadena.

A project as large as the Marketplace would require the demolition of some of the historic walls and roofs of the old buildings. But the project would preserve the facades of the buildings, the alleys and the street atmosphere of Old Pasadena, Phillips said.

“There is some damage to the historic fabric of the area, but for the long-term preservation of the entire district, we have to compromise,” he said. “I think we have mitigated that damage to the point where it is an acceptable compromise.”

Foot Traffic Affected

Bogaard said the central walkway, which would provide access to second-story shops, not only would require the demolition of historic portions of the buildings, but also would change the focus of Old Pasadena from Colorado Boulevard to the inside of the Marketplace mall.

“People love walking the streets,” she said. “It’s working well now in Old Pasadena and we think it should stay that way.”

Some merchants also are worried that shoppers would tend to stay inside the mall and not venture out.

“Something has to be done over there, but if they would just not enclose it,” said January Winchester, manager of Z Gallery, which is across from the Marketplace site on Colorado Boulevard. “It would be great to just have a bunch of cute shops over there, just like on our side of the street.”

City officials, merchants and preservationists also worry about the developers’ ability to finance a project as large as the Marketplace.

Partners Withdrew

Since the project began, several financial partners have backed out or backed away because of long delays.

The first was Birtcher, a national development company that joined the partnership in 1986 and helped secure a $106-million construction loan.

But Birtcher pulled out because the lender, First Interstate Mortgage Co., required a $30-million guarantee in case the project failed.

Marshall, who bought the buildings that would compose the Marketplace, long has been disgruntled over the project’s slow progress. Last year he did not make several payments on seven of the properties in what partners suspected was an effort to force some action, Phillips said.

The project was faced with being broken up as the properties went into default.

The development group, made up of Marshall, Wilson, Albert E. Ehringer, and Robert J. Morris was joined by a new partner in 1987. CMC Capital Corp., a Connecticut-based development company, helped bring the properties out of default before they fell into foreclosure and provided money to get the project rolling again. But CMC backed out early this year, saying the project had become too costly, Phillips said.

Planning Continues

Planning has continued with financing from Southmark Pacific Corp., a development company, but the partnership still has not secured a loan to build the project.

Bogaard said the long delays and the project’s checkered history show there is little investor enthusiasm for the Marketplace.

Even if it could find financing, Director Rick Cole said there are concerns whether a trendy mall, such as the Marketplace, could survive.

“It is a project conceived five years ago when the idea was fresh, new and innovative,” he said. “Now it is tired, cliched and inappropriate.”

Keyser Marston Associates Inc., a consulting firm hired by the city to investigate alternative designs for the Marketplace, said the project’s dependance on second-floor shops also is risky.

“It is difficult to overestimate the difficulty of achieving success on the second floor of specialty retail projects. Failures far outweigh success stories, even in the strongest retail areas such as Beverly Hills,” the report said.

City Is Cautious

The city staff has taken a cautious approach to the project, recommending the city prepare to condemn the property and take it over if the project fails.

But Phillips said concerns about the project’s financial health are overblown.

He said several unidentified investors are interested but will not make a commitment until the city approves the project. He said the city would be protected if the project failed because nothing would be done until all financing is secured.

“There isn’t going to be a brick moved or a blade of grass taken out until we have financing,” he said.

Phillips conceded that “time has taken its toll” on the developer’s credibility, but he said the project is still viable.

The Marketplace’s own consultant, Linda S. Congleton & Associates, concluded in a May 10 report that only a large-scale, integrated project like the Marketplace would succeed.

Unique Potential

“There are no shopping environments in the trade area that incorporate a sense of historical charm, a location within a pleasant pedestrian-oriented district with interesting buildings, and a tenant mix that includes national and regional shops,” the report stated. “The Pasadena Marketplace and Old Pasadena have the potential of becoming a truly unique retail-dining district.”

Hanging over the debate is concern that the city is running out of time.

Many business people in Old Pasadena moved to the area because of the Marketplace project. But for more that four years, the buildings have stood vacant.

‘Like a Bomb Zone’

“It’s like a bomb zone over there,” Winchester said. “We came in expecting the Marketplace to be built in a year and a half. Now we’ve reached a point of real tension.”

Director John Crowley said if the project is rejected, the delays that would result from designing a new project would be catastrophic.

“More and more businesses there are going out of business,” he said. “We can’t have a whole city block sitting there for another two years.”

But Cole said rushing a decision on a project as large and important as the Marketplace would be a mistake.

“The community would rather have a quality development there than be stampeded into something they would later regret,” he said.