Developer’s Offer Meets Resistance : Houses: A $325,000 Victorian is offered for use as a town hall. But the donor wants to replace it with a mini-mall and condominiums.
When Jonathan Webb, a developer with Nottingham Ltd., first proposed donating a $325,000 Victorian house for use as the community’s town hall, he didn’t expect garlands on his forehead. But he did think that residents and public officials would be grateful.
Instead, some of them are giving him the cold shoulder.
The chilly reception results from the strings attached to the offer: He will donate the Victorian and pay part of the cost of relocating it if the county allows him to build a small shopping center and seven condos on the site.
Neighbors of the privately owned house at 1955 N. Lake Ave. have circulated petitions against Webb. The county Regional Planning Commission snubbed his plans in a 5-0 vote in September.
Webb is appealing to the county Board of Supervisors. And his supporters say the board’s decision will affect not only the Nottingham development proposal but also the future of the entire town hall concept.
Geri Gauthier, head of the nonprofit community group formed to raise money for the project, fears that the Altadena Town Hall Project might break up unless the deal goes through.
“Whether I can keep this particular group together, I don’t know,” she said. “It’s been a tough fight, just keeping interest going.”
Supervisors heard the Nottingham appeal Jan. 11. A second hearing is scheduled Feb. 15, and a decision could come then.
The house in question is a two-story, 6,000-square-foot structure built in 1891 by G. D. Rowan, a Los Angeles grocer, according to an account in the book “Altadena’s Golden Years.” It was a plain, barn-like structure with a peaked front gable and wooden siding. In 1897, Rowan sold the house to Adelbert Stevens, who remodeled it and added the gingerbread architectural flourishes it bears today.
In 1915, it became a home for retired Methodist ministers. Over the past 50 years, it became known as the Hawkins House, named for the couple who bought it and raised nine children there.
For many in Altadena, it became a landmark of sorts. More than 200 people attended the house’s 75th birthday party, said one of the now-grown children, Michael Hawkins, owner of Pasadena’s Green Street Restaurant.
“All my friends, when they hear about the house being sold . . . then the memories start,” Hawkins said. “Everybody’s got memories of parties, funerals, weddings, graduations, baseball games, football games, basketball games, all the things that kids play, the forts that you dig, it’s all there.”
In addition, the house, which is still occupied by a member of the Hawkins family, is one of the few Victorians in Altadena, said Tim Gregory, chairman of Altadena Heritage.
The heritage organization was first offered the house a year ago but turned over the project to the separate town hall group. Since then, Gauthier’s group has been promised a low-cost, county lease for a relocation site about a mile away on El Molino Avenue between the county sheriff’s and fire stations. The structure would be used as a combined meeting hall, historical museum and theater.
Relocation costs of $265,000 would be partly met by Tim Cantwell, developer of the unrelated La Vina housing project, whose company has pledged $50,000, with an additional $100,000 pledge if the town hall group raises $100,000 to match the amount. Nottingham has promised $20,000.
Those amounts do not include the unknown costs of modifying the nine-bedroom family home for public use, but Gauthier believes that once the house is obtained, the money will follow.
She and Gregory believe that a town hall will provide a focus for Altadena that the unincorporated area of 42,000 residents lacks. It will “create a center and make a difference in people’s perception of the town,” Gregory said.
But some residents living near the house and opposed to the development have organized against the project. They have gone door-to-door circulating petitions against it.
Development plans for the 1.47-acre parcel call for the construction of a 6,800-square-foot commercial building fronting Lake Avenue and seven independently standing condominiums around the corner on Sacramento Street. The two-story condos will sell for more than $350,000 each, Webb said.
At the hearing Jan. 11, opponent Stig Erlander, owner of Erlander’s Natural Products store on Lake Avenue, characterized the commercial building as yet another unneeded mini-mall. The condos are not consistent with the single-family houses on separate lots in the neighborhood, he said. The development could bring renters and “more riffraff into Altadena,” he added.
Resident Jeri Rose said the Nottingham development would bring more traffic onto already busy Lake Avenue. She suggested that the Altadena community could buy the Hawkins House and the land on which it sits for $650,000 and make that site the town hall location.
“I believe the community could raise the money,” Rose assured the supervisors. “It’s $15 per person, for all the people in Altadena.”
The opponents are bolstered in their stand by the Planning Commission’s decision on Sept. 27 to deny the community plan and zoning changes needed for the project. Commission members cited concerns over parking, the condo project design and unneeded commercial construction in Altadena.
If the proposal is not approved by the supervisors, Webb says his company will likely complete the purchase of the Hawkins House, rehabilitate it and sell it.
Meanwhile, Gauthier’s group is in limbo. They are waiting for the hearing’s outcome before paying their $850 state incorporation fee.
“If this project doesn’t go, will we remain as a project and try to find another house or will the fire go out?” Gauthier wondered aloud.
“I don’t know,” she said. “No one is offering us another house.”
