New Marketplace Developer Offers Outline of Plans
Developer Douglas L. Stitzel has taken over the long-delayed Marketplace project, renamed it One Colorado and has informed the city that the proposed $70-million retail center could be open in 18 months to two years.
Stitzel, who developed One Union Square in San Francisco and One Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, offered a glimpse of his plans in presentations to the Board of Directors and the city Design Commission this week.
He said One Colorado will adhere to the 350,000-square-foot development plan approved for the Marketplace by the Pasadena Board of Directors in June.
“I don’t intend to change the overall design approach,” he said, emphasizing that his goal will be to maintain the historic character of the turn-of-the-century buildings that occupy the block.
Major Changes
“I’m certainly not going to increase the project’s size or density--if anything, it will be reduced,” he said.
Major changes will include the elimination of walkways across alleys and a glass-covered arcade. He said the plans are just taking shape and a number of possibilities are being explored, including a hotel of 40 to 50 rooms and an underground movie theater with six screens.
Stitzel and his partners are the latest in a string of developers and development companies who have tried to make the Marketplace work since the project was first announced by entrepreneur John Patrick Wilson in 1983.
The missing ingredient in previous efforts has been financing to carry out the project.
Assured the Board
Stitzel, whose company is based in San Francisco, assured the Board of Directors that financing will not be a problem.
He has organized Pasadena Preservation Associates as a real estate joint venture with Berisford Capital Corp. and San Francisco developer Leslie Schilling. He said development costs will be advanced by Berisford Capital, which is a subsidiary of S & W Berisford PLC, a leading British commodity trader.
As a condition to approving the project in June, city directors established Dec. 27 as a deadline for the developer to obtain construction financing.
Stitzel asked the board this week to either waive that requirement or declare it met because of the financial strength of the new development team. He submitted to the city a letter from Sholem Greenbaum, executive vice president of Berisford Capital Corp., confirming the firm’s partnership in the Pasadena project and promising to fund development costs until a construction loan is obtained.
City development director William Reynolds said there is no doubt that Berisford has the financial capability to carry out the project, but the city would like to see partnership agreements and other financial details.
Director Rick Cole suggested that Stitzel obtain a letter from Berisford promising to fund the project if a construction loan is not obtained elsewhere.
Mayor William E. Thomson Jr. asked Stitzel to forgive city officials “if we seem overly suspicious or unfriendly, because you are at least No. 3 (in a series of developers) coming along, and we want to be sure this is for real.”
Cole told Stitzel: “We are very happy to have a developer with the capacity to complete the project. From all appearances, from all references, you are that developer.” But in addition, Cole said, he hopes that Stitzel will “have a sensitivity that has been lacking in previous developers to the historic fabric of Pasadena’s most historic block.”
Extensive Rebuilding
The block, bounded by Colorado Boulevard, Union Street and Fair Oaks and De Lacey avenues, consists of a collection of empty, boarded-up buildings, mostly two stories and of brick construction. The facades of the buildings will be preserved, but Stitzel said it will be necessary to rebuild walls between buildings and extensive work will be required on roofs and floors.
Stitzel said he believes that the revisions being made to the approved plan will reduce the amount of demolition.
Stitzel noted that before acquiring the property he consulted an historic preservation group, Pasadena Heritage, to try to understand the concerns that led it to oppose the Marketplace.
Claire Bogaard, executive director of the group, said Stitzel seems to be taking the project “in the right direction,” but she will want to see more detailed plans before giving an opinion.
However, both she and the Design Commission this week welcomed Stitzel’s decision to eliminate a glass-covered arcade from the project.
Instead of the arcade, which attempted to unite shops in a mall, Stitzel said the revised plan will give tenants ground-floor entrances on streets and alleys. Stitzel said he will attempt to use the approach he has followed in other projects of creating two ground floors in buildings. He can do this by having entrances on the front of a building lead downward a few steps and entrances at the rear of the building lead upward. In that way, he can slip an extra floor into a building and offer valuable ground-floor space to more tenants.
Outside Unchanged
Stitzel said this approach would require him to lower the floors on Colorado Boulevard frontage, but the outward appearance of the buildings would remain unchanged. The alleys would be preserved and the development would include a large plaza with outdoor dining.
Stitzel said he has been talking to two specialty department stores that would take 60,000 to 90,000 square feet of space. Other tenants could include upscale home furnishing stores, mid- to upper-level fashion shops, a gourmet market, bookstores and music stores.
Stitzel said that the architecture firm of Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz of San Francisco will work with MCG Architects of Pasadena in drafting the plans. He said Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz has extensive experience in restoring historic structures.
He said the construction will be done by a joint venture composed of Plant Builders, which has renovated many brick buildings in San Francisco, and Peck/Jones Construction of Beverly Hills.
Stitzel said he will return to the Design Commission with detailed plans in mid-January.
He estimated that the design work could be completed in three to four months and that construction will take a year to 15 months. Although the completion date depends on how quickly the project’s revisions move through the city-approval process, Stitzel said the stores could be open as early as 18 months to two years from now.
Crews on Site
Purchase of the property, at a price that has not been announced but that Stitzel said exceeds $5 million, was not completed until Dec. 8. However, construction crews have already been on the site repairing damage from last week’s winds, Stitzel said.
He said he is accustomed to moving quickly on his projects. He said he bought the property, built and leased San Francisco’s One Union Square, a 7-story project that is occupied by Gucci and other high-end retailers, in 16 months. “Most people can’t get a project approved in San Francisco in 16 months, let alone get it built,” he said.
In Pasadena, he said, he is also determined to move quickly. “We bought the property not because we want to have it sit for another six years,” he said. “I want to work with the city. I want to get the project done in a way that is consistent with the goals of (Pasadena) Heritage and with the goals of the city.”
CHRONOLOGY OF MARKETPLACE PROJECT 1981: Television producer Garry Marshall, entreprenuer John Patrick Wilson and partner Albert Ehringer begin assembling property on the north side of Colorado Boulevard, west of Fair Oaks Avenue, in Old Pasadena.
September, 1983: Wilson announces plans to restore a block of dilapidated but historically significant structures and create the Marketplace, an upscale shopping arcade.
April, 1985: Wilson holds lavish party to promote the project, complete with an antique trolley car to symbolize the plan to build a trolley system in Old Pasadena. Marketplace plans now include a 150-room hotel, gourmet grocery store and rooftop restaurants.
July, 1985: City Design Review Committee and Commercial Development committee give concept approval to the project.
March, 1986: Birtcher, a national developer, joins the project and secures $106 million loan, but later pulls out when lender insists on a $30-million guarantee in case the project fails.
June, 1987: CMC Capital Corp of Connecticut joins the project, providing a temporary infusion of cash, but drops out in early 1988, saying the project is too costly.
June, 1988: Pasadena Board of Directors approves revised plan to develop the Marketplace as a commercial center with 350,000 square feet of space at cost of $60 million. Developer given six months to line up construction financing.
July, 1988: Marshall ends partnership with Wilson and others to develop the Marketplace and announces plans to sell the property.
August, 1988: Marshall sells the property to Pierce/Lange Development of Los Angeles.
October, 1988: Deal with Pierce/Lange collapses over delays in obtaining construction financing. Marshall again has control of the property.
December, 1988: San Francisco developer Douglas L. Stitzel and his partners, including a U.S. subsidiary of a large British company, S. & W. Berisford PLC, buy the Marketplace property and rename the project One Colorado. Project cost estimated at $70 million. Completion estimated at 18 months to two years.
