San Gabriel Valley : Caltrans to Sell 54 Surplus Properties

Caltrans will sell 54 Pasadena and South Pasadena homes that once were in the path of the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension.

The decision by Director James van Loben Sels comes in the wake of a Times report in April that Caltrans owns 110 excess properties in both cities worth $27 million, even though state law requires that the agency sell surplus property.

Caltrans officials are looking at other properties to see if those should be sold as well. Tenants and former owners will get first chance at any of the home sales.

Caltrans bought the homes in the 1960s and 1970s to make room for the extension of the freeway. But under pressure from residents, the path was rerouted to spare downtown South Pasadena and other historic enclaves.

Still, Caltrans held on to the properties. Agency officials said that they did not want to put the homes on the market because the old path might be resurrected if the new route failed to win federal approval, which is still pending. Caltrans officials now say that going back to the old route is no longer a possibility.

“We are pleasantly surprised Caltrans wants to sell these homes,” said Antonio Rossmann, legal counsel for South Pasadena, which has pushed for the sale.

Eleven of the homes are in Pasadena and the rest in South Pasadena.

Caltrans is seeking approval of the sale from a U.S. District Court judge who is hearing litigation over the proposed freeway.