Last-Minute Gripe by Residents Puts Renewal at Risk

Freight trains rumble along the east side, and landscaping in some parts is nothing more than a strip of pebble-pocked dirt. The old police station, the main building on the site, seems to hunch inward with an entrance that feels more like a back door.

Yet the so-called “Marengo block” is considered a city jewel. It is one of the key elements of downtown redevelopment. Plans are for the 59-year-old police building to be gutted and transformed into 44 senior housing units. Another 350 housing units are planned around it in a complex of three-, four- and five-story courtyard style buildings, with rents between $1,200 and $1,500.

Final discussions are expected in January on the proposed redevelopment deal that has taken two years to negotiate with Santa Monica-based Janss Corp.

Now, two groups are mounting eleventh-hour opposition against the proposal.

The Endowment Advisory Commission and a newly created group, The Pasadena Century Club, said the city should receive more than the expected $7 million from the project, which is costing $53.6 million to build. They also say a $5.6-million price tag is too much to spend to convert the police building into senior housing.

“My bottom line is getting value for the city,” said Graeme Henderson, one of the Century Club organizers. “I think this project needs to be seriously rethought.”

The last-minute criticism worries project supporters, who fear any tinkering with the deal could delay it, increase costs and maybe even kill the entire proposal.

“If we monkey with it too much, we could wind up losing this deal,” said Marvin Greer, chairman of the city’s Community Development Commission. “We could wind up losing the kind of things we want to create downtown.”

Hearings on the project are anticipated next month before the Pasadena Board of Directors. The debate could spark a clash among advisory boards and public interest groups, pitting the Endowment Advisory Commission against the Community Development Committee, and the fledgling Century Club against Pasadena Heritage, a historic preservation group that has entered the fray because it wants to see the police building preserved.

Representatives of both sides say they have the long-term interests of the city at heart.

Pasadena’s financial health and its ability to pay for maintaining its streets, curbs, parks and city buildings concern the Endowment Advisory Commission and the Century Club. Members of these groups believe the city should structure deals for the highest return possible.

They criticize the financial arrangement for the Marengo block. The city plans to sell 4.6 acres on Marengo Avenue between Walnut and Holly streets to Janss. It will receive $4 million in cash and a note for $2.9 million payable over 22 years at 8% interest. In addition, if Janss sells the project after it is built, the city would get a variable percentage of the proceeds, depending on when it is sold.

Under an alternative plan devised by Endowment Advisory Commission member Dennis Murphy, a 50-50 partnership could be created between Janss and the city, with the city keeping the land and obtaining a joint construction loan with Janss for $38 million.

“It behooves the body civic to own property,” said Henderson. “City government saw that land as being a real jewel. What should be put up there is something that is on leased (land), not sold.”

The city should also consider razing the nearby, privately owned Brookmore Apartments, Henderson said. Otherwise, he said, the low-income apartments may detract from the upscale Janss project.

Also of concern to the two groups is the $1.3 million the city plans to spend from its housing fund to help rehabilitate the police building. Endowment commission member Sally Mosher said the city’s limited housing money could be better spent elsewhere.

“You should be able to build new units for (less),” she said, adding that the police building could be used for a museum or other purpose.

For the past month, Century Club organizers have been using the Marengo block as a rallying point around which to create the new citizens group, Henderson said. Organizers sent flyers to former members of the Citizens’ Finance Committee, about 25 people who joined together in 1985 to solve the Fire and Police Retirement System deficit.

The finance committee helped devise a complicated funding scheme to cover an estimated $133-million deficit in the retirement system. After its task was completed, the group disbanded, with about seven of its members reforming as the Endowment Advisory Commission.

With the important Marengo block decision looming in January, Henderson says the old group should step in again. The group, plus new members, would focus on the city’s costs, which he said are often overlooked by the numerous committees and commissions that are concerned mainly with the benefits from projects.

“There’s a feeling that Pasadena needs a group that focuses on maintaining and enlarging the value of Pasadena,” he said. “We need to look at Pasadena 10, 20, 50 and 100 years down the road. Let’s think long-term because nobody’s doing it.”

But the project’s supporters say the Marengo block addresses the city’s long-term needs. Greer, chairman of the Community Development Committee, said his committee simply has different long-term needs in mind than the Endowment Advisory Commission.

“Their focus is, can we squeeze more money out of the property,” he said. “Ours is, can we squeeze out of it the ability to eradicate blight and create housing and a nice atmosphere downtown.”

Although the Marengo block deal may not appear profitable in the short-term, Greer said that in the long run, residents who live in the complex will boost the city’s retail base by shopping at nearby Plaza Pasadena and Old Pasadena.

The city’s financial consultant, Gene Slater of San Francisco, also pointed out weaknesses in the endowment commission’s proposed partnership with Janss. Financing would be difficult to obtain under such an arrangement, and the partnership would expose the city to more risk with the project, Slater said in a recent report.

Max Nardoni, Janss’ project manager for the Marengo block, said the endowment commission proposal would subject the city to a “roll of the dice” on the project.

“The city would be taking on the role of entrepreneur with us, and I don’t know if it should become an entrepreneur,” Nardoni said. “(Under the original proposal) we’re going to pay cash for the land and the city is going to get its money out on day one.”

Claire Bogaard, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, takes issue with criticism about the high cost of revamping the police building for senior housing. Some of the expenses are attributable to the removal of asbestos in the building, which would have to be done even if the structure is razed, she said.

In addition, she argues that despite the cost, preserving the building increases the city’s beauty. The police building is one of 14 structures on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Civic Center District. Built in 1930 by architect J. J. Blick, its Mediterranean style complements City Hall, the public library and the civic auditorium.

Like Greer, Bogaard wonders why critics did not step forward sooner. “The city board has been kept abreast; it hasn’t been developing in a vacuum,” she said.

Any significant changes now might require a new environmental impact report, which Bogaard believes will drive Janss away. Nardoni mentioned the possibility.

“We gave it our best shot, and our proposal is per the documents we’ve negotiated for a year and a half,” Nardoni said. “If it’s not acceptable to the city, we’ll accept that fact and move on.”