Pasadena City College Loses Offer on Arcadia Property

Pasadena City College (Photo – Janine T.)

Pasadena City College is in search of another potential satellite campus after losing their offer on an Arcadia property.

By Reina Esparza

According to Pasadena City College’s Chief Business Officer Candace D. Jones, the property at 325 N. Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia has been taken off the market by the owner, leaving the school without a solid location option for their next satellite campus.

“Unfortunately, the District did put in an offer for that Arcadia property and the owner of that property actually took the property off of the market,” Jones said. “So the company that owns the property is a development firm and so they decided to get that property re-permitted for residential use. They are going to turn it into a housing program.”

Jones explained that the city of Arcadia wants to address more pressing housing needs at this time and that although the school is disappointed that their offer is off the table for this property, they understand why the owner took this route instead.

News shared with Board of Trustees and College Council on April 20

When the property was taken off the market, Jones said the news was shared with the Board of Trustees in a closed session topic on April 20. The following day, April 21, Jones said the news was then passed along to the school’s College Council.

Since the school’s lease with their current satellite campus in Rosemead expires in June 2023, the search for a new satellite campus location is a pressing matter that the school is still looking into.

“We are actively continuing to monitor and work with a commercial realtor in serving properties and looking through that,” Jones said. “Right now, we find ourselves in challenging times because the market is very very hot. We’re trying to think and work collaboratively with each of the cities in the area; particularly Temple City, Rosemead, El Monte.”

Jones said that the school is working closely with city managers in those aforementioned cities so as to continue serving those areas as they have been for years.

“I’m going to be continuously active in monitoring those areas for potential sites that may come up in coming months or coming years,” Jones continued. “We’re looking proactively in all of our service areas and when and if opportunities present themselves, we’re going to get feedback from our Board of Trustees and our community at large if those are directions we’d like to pursue.”