Portion of the 710-stub (Photo – Staff)
Caltrans has decided to offer 17 properties along the defunct 710 ‘ditch’ for sale to the City of Pasadena.
By Jerry Friedman
The City will, in turn, sell them to real-estate brokers who will eventually put these homes on the market. Money the City generates from the sale of the properties will be used in Pasadena’s low-cost housing programs.
Caltrans bought hundreds of homes for the 710-freeway extension. Most of them were purchased back in the 60’s. During the interim, the project was abandoned and Caltrans has been saddled with managing about 450 homes in Alhambra, South Pasadena, and Pasadena. Some of them have been on the rental market. Many of them have been vacant, abandoned, and boarded up. A small number of them were occupied by squatters during the initial impact of the coronavirus.
Last September, Caltrans sent offers to over 150 of its tenants. If they could meet the rigid restrictions of the program, they could become homeowners. It’s not clear why Caltrans is choosing to dispose of these particular, unidentified, 17 units to the City of Pasadena, although some may have restrictive Historical covenants, others may require extensive renovations to meet basic habitability standards. The City Council will decide which of these 17 homes potentially merit this special treatment as well as which brokers will profit in the projects. The craftsman styled and midcentury homes will command a very high price when they enter an extremely tight and rarified market.
It is unclear who will supply the funds to renovate these homes. Neither the City of Pasadena, nor Caltrans has the expertise to manage commercial projects like these. Undoubtably “market-based solutions” will be recruited. Caltrans is not giving these properties to the City; they will have to be purchased at a price that makes them viable in the restoration marketplace, and that won’t leave piles of cash for the City in its role as temporary middle-man. Pasadena’s housing director, Bill Huang, has expressed the City’s desire for a “quick process,” signaling a very limited role for the City and a very limited opportunity for low-cost housing at these sites in Pasadena.
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How were the real estate brokers stacked? Is there a list of the real estate brokers to contact if your interested in purchasing one of the homes. I’ve been following these homes for over twenty years
This happened many years ago
Sylvia Purcell
These events are currently unfolding…The city will be transferring some of these homes to private hands in the not so distant FUTURE, so it’s an ongoing thing.