Offices No Longer in Ambassador Site Plan

Strong demand for housing has prompted the developer of the Ambassador College property in Pasadena to drop a huge office complex from its plans and instead build a nearly all-residential project of about 2,000 high-priced homes.

The proposed development by Legacy Partners would rank as one of the largest urban housing projects under development or construction in Los Angeles County. The Pasadena project--made up primarily of condominiums and single-family homes--would surpass a 1,400-unit apartment complex under construction in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles.

Legacy Partners originally had planned to build about 1,100 units of housing in addition to a large office complex on the former college’s 50 acres, which includes a formal campus near Orange Grove Boulevard and a large cluster of commercial properties south of Old Pasadena. But the Foster City, Calif.-based developer decided to focus solely on housing after discussions to build a huge office compound for Internet incubator Idealab fell through. A small amount of retail space will also be devoted to service-related businesses.

“There was such strong demand [for housing] that we would be better off making the entire property a residential development,” said Bill Shubin, the Legacy executive in charge of the project.

Legacy stands to make more money building homes than office buildings because of the ongoing rise in home values and apartment rents. In fact, the estimated financial returns on residential development would be 25% to 50% higher than on an office complex, Shubin said.

“This creates more value than we could have otherwise,” Shubin said.

If Pasadena officials approve their plans next spring, Legacy will finalize its purchase of the Ambassador College property early next summer and start groundwork soon afterward, Shubin said. Based on preliminary agreements with home builders, sale prices would range from the low $300,000 range for condominiums to more than $1 million for single-family homes.

Legacy has said that it will preserve several historic structures on the campus in addition to the Ambassador Auditorium concert hall.

Legacy’s proposal would extend the housing construction boom underway in Pasadena. About 1,000 apartments and homes--designed and priced primarily for affluent residents--are under construction and more are in the works, said Eric Duyshart, the city’s manager of business development.

“A lot of the [commercial] projects that we tracked two years ago . . . have turned into residential projects,” Duyshart said.