Retail-Residential ‘Urban Village’ Debuts

Who would have known 15 years ago that Old Pasadena would rocket in popularity? Turns out “old towns” became the new thing. Today, Pasadena cuts the ribbon on what is widely viewed as the city’s second trend-setting district.

This time around, Pasadena tore down an ugly mall and built an urban village--a case study on whether Southern Californians will abandon their gardens and gas grills to live within walking distance of the grocery store, gym and a train station.

It is called Paseo Colorado, a three-block stretch of Colorado Boulevard that city leaders describe as Pasadena’s newest landmark. Call it Mediterranean Revival meets Craftsman in a two-level shopping center.

But what’s attracting the most attention are the four stories above the stores. This shopping center will be home to more than 600 people in 387 apartments, where windows and balconies overlook noisy streets and the newest food court in town.

“This is a new regional prototype for urban renewal,” said Richard A. Froese Jr., senior vice president of TrizecHahn, which built the shopping center and then sold air rights to Post Properties for the apartment construction.

As about 70 shops and restaurants open in the coming months, Pasadena will embark on a pioneering and, some say, risky venture into what planning experts call “New Urbanism,” a movement that strives to bring a new way of life to tired, sagging city centers.

“This is a benchmark project,” said Larry Kosmont, president of the Kosmont Companies, a real estate firm that specializes in private-public partnerships. “This is a 21st century version of the regional mall.”

Dana Cole, a professor of architecture and urban planning at UCLA, said Paseo Colorado is a rare example of the kind of “mixed-use housing” concept that city planners embrace but developers tend to shun in car-dependent Southern California.

“It’s basically taking a traditional city form--a place where working, shopping and housing can happen simultaneously--so residents can depend more on public transportation and walking,” Cole said.

Developers say the typical tenants will be professionals with no children who are searching for an alternative to quiet garden apartment buildings. Rents will range from $1,500 to $3,000.

Cole and Pasadena officials said the city’s core components--a busy, architecturally significant civic center surrounded by offices; the renewed Old Pasadena; and a generally safe image--make living downtown more acceptable.

But whether Paseo will rise to landmark status in a city that is home to the Rose Bowl, the Gamble House and the Norton Simon Museum depends on its ability to connect itself to the broader civic landscape and cultural institutions, such as museums and theaters.

Opening ceremonies seem to emphasize culture, not consumerism, with a free 8 p.m. concert today by the Pasadena Symphony, and with actors from the Civic Light Opera performing a scene from “Les Miserables” in the main courtyard.

“Shops and restaurants can only get you so far,” said Rick Cole, Azusa city manager and former Pasadena mayor.

About three-quarters of the 70 restaurants and shops will be open for business today. The apartments will be ready for occupancy after Jan. 1.

Shops include a mix of high-end and less pricey stores, including Coach, Tommy Bahama, Ann Taylor Loft and KB Toys. Restaurants range from white-tablecloth eateries to fast-food counters, including Border Grill, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Juice It Up! For entertainment, a 14-screen Pacific Theater opens its doors in the heart of the central courtyard, along with a health club and day spa.

But the $200-million project, which was planned and built in the best of economic times, finds itself opening in the midst of uncertainty.

“Right now, most people agree the consumer has been scared and the economy is in recession,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “It is probably going to be a difficult opening.” Some analysts are asking whether Pasadena can support a second regional shopping and entertainment center blocks away from Old Pasadena.

Merchants and restaurateurs in Paseo will need to hold on for the long term, even though short-term retail prospects may be bleak, said Richard Giss, retail consultant with Deloitte & Touche. Developers hope the Paseo’s 600 residents will prop up the retail segment.

“The people in the apartments will be using Gelson’s as their refrigerator,” Giss said, referring to the gourmet supermarket on the ground floor.

Local leaders wonder, too, what impact Paseo Colorado will have on the city’s South Lake shopping district, which is clinging to a fading reputation as a premier shopping lane for moneyed residents. Several said they expect the competition for shoppers to be tight.

On South Lake, construction of a third retail center also is underway. The Paseo project has overshadowed that effort, which ran into intense community opposition before a scaled-down version was approved.

Paseo has been a long-desired project in Pasadena’s civic center. The old Plaza Pasadena--a 1980 hulking enclosed mall--was universally despised as an eyesore that ruined the heart of downtown.

Its construction helped ignite Pasadena’s now entrenched historic preservation movement. A stretch of historic buildings was razed to make room for the old mall. The gray monolith also blocked the scenic Garfield Avenue corridor connecting the city’s Italian Renaissance-style Civic Auditorium and its Beaux Arts City Hall and Central Library.

By 1988, Plaza Pasadena “was so bad it couldn’t draw flies,” analyst Giss said. The city commissioned a task force that essentially recommended knocking it down and starting over.

In May 2000, as classical music resounded, an excavator’s claw tore through the mall, restoring the Garfield Corridor that has become the centerpiece of Paseo Colorado.

Few projects have been as well-received by the city’s fussy design commissioners. The architectural firm of Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn of New York--with a national reputation for historic preservation--designed the retail component.

The future business owners and tenants have high expectations about what the project is going to deliver.

Susie Moon is about to invest $2 million in Paseo Colorado to open a 200-seat Delmonico’s Seafood Grille, already a well-established restaurant on the Westside.

“The whole idea of an urban village was really appealing to me,” Moon said. “It has more of a community feel. The Westside is image-conscious, flashy. Pasadena is stately, established.”

To be successful, her new restaurant must build a strong roster of repeat diners. Even Moon is finding the idea appealing. She’s thinking of renting an apartment at Paseo Colorado.