Approval of $50-Million Project Delayed : Development: Pasadena Board of Directors wants more information about funding of the Marengo block plan.

Continued objections by the city’s Endowment Advisory Commission have caused the Board of Directors to withhold approval, at least for a week, of the $50.5-million Marengo block development plan, a key element in the city’s downtown Civic Center master plan.

Faced with money questions Tuesday from the commission about the complicated project that took 1 1/2 years to devise, the board asked members of the city’s planning staff and the Janss Corp., the project’s Santa Monica-based developer, to meet immediately with commission members.

The commission was directed to examine whether the city has a strong enough guarantee of repayment of a $2.9-million loan that is part of the development deal.

“We’re in favor of the project; we’re not opposed to the project. We just don’t like the financial arrangements,” Leigh Rosenberg, chairman of the eight-member commission, said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

Director Chris Holden said he wants to hear alternatives to a controversial part of the project that calls for relocating and converting the out-of-date police building to low-income senior housing at a cost that could reach $6.1 million.

The board did not rule out discussion of other financial aspects when it meets again Tuesday to vote on the project.

“I’m open to new information,” Director Rick Cole said, although he said the board should avoid rehashing the same issues already covered during three hours Tuesday.

The project is proposed for a roughly triangular-shaped, four-acre piece of land between Holly and Walnut streets and between Marengo Street and the Santa Fe Railway tracks next to Memorial Park. The four-story, 59-year-old police building on the site would be relocated and the building converted to 44 units of senior housing. The Fire Department headquarters, fire station and emergency operations center on Marengo Street would be moved and the buildings demolished; 350 units of housing in nine separate buildings would be constructed.

The development would include two levels of parking and 9,000 square feet of retail space. If the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission approves a light-rail line through Pasadena, the site would also contain the city’s major rail stop.

The Endowment Advisory Commission’s objections center on the city’s financial share in the project and the high cost of converting the police building to senior housing.

As now proposed, the Janss Corp. would give the city $6.9 million for the property--$4 million in cash and a note for $2.9 million payable over 22 years. The city would also receive a small share of any future profits should the corporation sell the project. Commission members believe the city should establish a partnership with Janss to retain city ownership of the land and garner a larger share of the profits from any future sale.

In addition, the commission said that it believes the cost for the renovation of the police building--which it estimates at $130,000 a unit--is too high.

Like the commission, board members on Tuesday expressed their overall satisfaction with the project but also voiced reservations about its financial arrangements. Director John Crowley asked for collateral for the $2.9-million loan, and Director Jess Hughston asked for information about the costs to the city of relocating the Fire Department structures.