Caltrans Panel to Sell More Properties to Agency

A Caltrans committee has decided to sell a second batch of surplus state-owned homes and apartments in South Pasadena that is no longer in the path of the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension. The homes will be sold to the same affordable-housing agency whose purchase of a previous group of houses ignited opposition among residents.

Richard Marquis, a state Department of Transportation official, said the committee had selected Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services and its partner, Esparza Investments, to purchase seven single-family homes and four multiple-family dwellings to rent to low- to moderate-income families.

The housing agency is expected to close escrow July 18 on 11 other Caltrans homes in South Pasadena and Pasadena. That purchase was approved by the state despite South Pasadena’s opposition.