Death Doesn’t Halt Work at One Colorado

The steel girders, the crane, the bustle of workers and a rising three-story building at the One Colorado site have seemed like a miracle for the past month to Old Pasadena business owners.

For nearly 10 years, they worried as shaky financing and a fight between preservationists and developers stalled work on the cluster of run-down 1880s brick buildings on Colorado Boulevard at Fair Oaks Avenue.

After developer Douglas Stitzel took over the project in 1989, construction trucks finally rolled onto the site last year to begin the $70-million conversion to an upscale specialty mall.

But the 40-year-old Stitzel’s sudden death April 26 from leukemia revived worries all over again.

“There were rumors that construction had stopped,” said Mark Haines, president of the Old Pasadena Business and Professional Assn. “Customers would walk into neighboring businesses and the first thing they would ask is ‘What’s going to happen?’ ”

To halt the flow of rumors, Pam White, executive vice president of Stitzel’s San Francisco development company, met recently with about 35 Old Pasadena business owners, many of whom were worried that the soon-to-be-completed buildings would stand empty.

“Doug Stitzel’s forte was leasing,” said businessman Jim Plotkin with a frown.

“Doug Stitzel’s forte was conceptualizing and design,” White corrected. “Doug didn’t get buried with his Rolodex and his files. His contacts are still there. It’s a terrible misconception to think that somebody does a deal based on one person.”

By the time White and leasing agent Glenn Rosen finished their presentation, they earned a round of applause from the business group.

White said the One Colorado project is proceeding on schedule, following plans laid out by Stitzel. The underground, eight-screen AMC movie theater probably will open in November, ahead of the rest of the center, she said. Other tenants will probably open in the spring or summer of 1992.

Meanwhile, Rosen said 25% of the One Colorado project is already leased, with a branch of Il Fornaio, a popular Beverly Hills restaurant, as one of the major tenants.

Although the recession has slowed deal-making, negotiations with possible tenants continue on another 25% of the project, he said.

But those tenants are not the Gucci and Hermes shops of Stitzel’s other developments in Beverly Hills and San Francisco, Rosen said. “Pasadena doesn’t have the income levels or the tourism to support it,” he said. Instead, the project seeks the best of middle-class shops, such as Eddie Bauer or Laura Ashley.

What the project may attract, however, is more entrepreneurial types of businesses, said Blaine Fetter, a developer and president of the San Gabriel Valley Commerce and Cities Consortium.

The One Colorado project is unique in the San Gabriel Valley, Fetter said, because it has no mainstream department store to anchor it.

Its appeal is based on atmosphere, and prospective tenants usually can’t visualize atmosphere. Thus, they often wait until a development is completed before signing, he said.

So although concerns have been raised that One Colorado leasing is going slowly, Fetter said, that is not an indicator of how the project will fare.

Another concern is whether the new AMC theater, combined with the six-screen movie theater already operating across the street, will be a dangerous mix, drawing rowdy youths like those who have rioted twice this year in Westwood.

But Rosen compared Old Pasadena to Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, where old buildings have been rehabilitated and restaurants and movies abound. No problems have appeared there, he said.

Haines agreed that Old Pasadena appeals to families and an older crowd, and to businesses that wouldn’t think of leasing space in Westwood.

“There’s nothing like Old Pasadena,” White said. “There’s a sense of history that’s here, and a lot of people who come here appreciate that.”

White noted that Stitzel’s death from leukemia--usually a long illness--probably made some people wonder if the company had withheld news of his health so as not to affect the project. But White said Stitzel’s illness had been diagnosed only 2 1/2 weeks before his death.

White said the company continues as before, with 22 employees working on One Colorado, the completed One and Two Rodeo Drive projects in Beverly Hills and other developments.

Mei Yung, Stitzel’s wife, has said she wants the company to continue as before, White said.

“We closed the office for three hours the day he died, and that was it,” she said. “We may have gotten a little slow on everything, but we haven’t missed a beat.”