South Pasadena TOD fills up fast

Mission Meridian Village, a collection of 67 varied housing units along the Gold Line light-rail tracks in South Pasadena, California, opened in June and is expected to be completed and fully occupied by September. The project, designed by Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists, is one of the latest and most striking examples of dense mixed-use development along the Los Angeles region’s expanding network of light-rail lines. The entire 1.6 acre site, which sits within 200 feet of the Mission Street light-rail station, was excavated so that two stories of underground parking could be constructed — some of it providing public parking for transit riders, the rest supplying parking for residents, retail tenants, and people going to a nearby convalescent hospital. Developer Michael Dieden of Creative Housing Associates says $2.5 million from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority and $2 million from the state made the underground parking structure possible. To fit in with a neighboring old, brick, commercial building, Moule & Polyzoides designed part of the complex as a three-story, red brick building containing 5,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor and 14 tall loft units above. To the rear of the new brick structure is a courtyard surrounded by flats, townhouses, and lofts. The rest of the project is designed in Pasadena bungalow style — much like the circa 1920 one-story bungalows across the street — but at three stories it is higher than normal for bungalows. Most units in the bungalow-style buildings are arranged around courtyards. At the far end of the project, Creative Housing built three detached houses. The variety of housing types and the use of porches, dormers, and other detailing help the project to look less massive than it might have; nonetheless, some longtime residents of homes nearby are unhappy about the project’s density — 40 units an acre. “It’s an experiment in overcrowding; it kind of blocks out the sky,” complained Jim Miller, a homeowner who has lived in the neighborhood for 59 years. When Creative Housing conducted an open house in June in conjunction with the CNU conference in Pasadena, Miller and other neighbors gathered on lawns across the street and displayed signs proclaiming “New Urbanism is Urban Terrorism” and “America’s Most Endangered Neighborhood.” transit justifies density In a county that has added three million residents since 1970, almost any planner would argue that increased density makes sense next to a transit stop. The Mission Street Specific Plan awarded the developer a density bonus in return for providing public parking. Visitors from CNU admired Moule & Polyzoides’ skill in modulating the density — placing the highest concentration near the South Pasadena business district and tapering it down to detached houses at the other end. The market’s verdict on Mission Meridian has been overwhelmingly positive. Well before construction began, the project’s 14 lofts “sold about two years ago in 18 minutes,” says real estate agent Michael B. Bell. Since then, demand has only intensified. An 800 sq. ft., two-story loft that first sold for about $350,000 is now worth $450,000, he says. A 2,400-square-foot detached house that sold for $850,000 is now valued at more than $1 million, Bell adds. Most of the houses that previously stood on the site were demolished years ago by a developer who tried and failed to expand the convalescent hospital there. Dieden saved two remaining, dilapidated houses, moved them to sites nearby, and renovated them for sale to first-time homebuyers. u