For the first time in 60 years, a large group of vacant houses owned by the state of California within the path of the defunct 710 Freeway extension will be purchased by the city of Pasadena, then re-sold by brokers to private buyers and families to occupy.
Caltrans, the owners of about 100 properties in Pasadena located on both sides of the 710 ditch, along St. John Avenue, Pasadena Avenue, State Street and side streets since the mid 1960s, has released 17 vacant single-family homes to the city for acquisition, said Bill Huang, Pasadena’s housing director on Wednesday, July 19.
By Tuesday, July 25, the city will choose from several interested real estate brokers. The staff will go to the City Council by the end of summer for approval of the specific, vacant homes the city will buy, as well as the brokers chosen to re-sell the properties to the public, he said.
In order to build a 6.3-mile extension of the 710 Freeway, which starts at the Port of Los Angeles and ends at the northern terminus near Alhambra at Valley Boulevard, Caltrans bought about 450 homes in the 1960s in El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena. But the city of South Pasadena and environmental groups stopped the freeway through lawsuits in the 1970s and 1980s.
Later, the agency wanted to build the freeway extension underground, as a long tunnel connecting to the 210/134 freeways. But any extension was killed by LA Metro, and then by Caltrans and the state secretary of transportation in November 2018.
What was left were a string of houses in middle-income El Sereno and pricey South Pasadena and Pasadena. Some are occupied by tenants who pay rent to Caltrans but when tenants died or were evicted, Caltrans often did not rent them to new occupants. The transportation agency was criticized by state lawmakers for leaving homes empty during the coronavirus pandemic, leading to squatters who moved into the vacant homes.
In 2019, about 163 residential units, mostly single family homes, were vacant, this news organization reported.
Many of the vacant houses have been designated as historic, Huang said, meaning a buyer would have to abide by covenants and easements established by the city’s historic properties ordinance during renovation. Old home experts who’ve surveyed the Caltrans-owned homes in Pasadena say several are grand homes built in the Craftsman and Mid-Century Modern styles.
Huang views the process of first acquiring, then selling the 710 homes that were left to deteriorate for years as a way to upgrade these Pasadena neighborhoods. It will also provide housing to a tight market. Once the vacant homes are sold, the proceeds go back to the city and can only be used to build affordable housing units, he said.
“Any neighborhood should not have vacant homes. This area has had vacant homes for quite a long period of time,” Huang said.
“They will be fixed up, so they can be occupied. And also, they generate income for more affordable housing in the city of Pasadena. It is kind of a two-fer,” he added.
Many need moderate to substantial amounts of renovation, Huang said. The addresses of the homes has not been released by the city.
Christopher Sutton, an attorney with decades invested in representing Caltrans tenants in occupied homes, estimated Caltrans currently owns 260 homes in El Sereno, 100 homes in Pasadena and 70 in South Pasadena.
Since September, Caltrans has sent notices to more than 150 tenants along the route to ascertain if they are interested in buying the property, said Caltrans. Occupants who meet certain income and tenancy requirements may be able to purchase the homes they live in at what Caltrans calls the “affordable price,” which would be below market value.
Sutton has toured vacant homes along the route and said many are in poor shape. In a home on South Pasadena Avenue in Pasadena, the last tenant left in 2005 and since then, it has deteriorated. “Caltrans had entirely sealed off the upstairs. We could see the floors were gone — you had to step on the joists.”
Tenants in some of the occupied homes along the route said renovations would cost as much as $300,000, Sutton said. Questions remain whether repair costs would be shouldered by Caltrans or the buyer.
On Thursday, July 20, a security guard walked in front of the vacant home at 734 St. John Avenue. The home was discussed in the city’s portal containing questions from real estate brokers. The city replied, saying the 3,090-square-foot house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms and was built in 1896.
The vacant homes along this street and others in the route of the failed freeway are like ghosts, almost invisible to the speeding traffic, blending in with the nearby occupied homes. Except that Caltrans has boarded the windows and papered the homes with white No Trespassing signs that say: “State Property.”
Some of the vacant homes have newer siding and recent paint jobs. One house at 215 Madeline Drive has 2,111 square feet of living space, including three bedrooms and three bathrooms, according to the city’s portal on the vacant homes.
The modest house is located near the ballfields of Westridge School, with a shiny, new black mailbox and three trash bins lined up on the side. It appeared to be vacant, as all windows on both floors were covered in wood panels.
“We are anticipating a quick process,” said Huang, who added, dryly: “We hope it won’t take 30 years.”
Source: Orange County Register
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