IDS gets OK
City Design Commission approves controversial Playhouse District projec
By Jake Armstrong 09/02/2010
New design plans for the 159,000 square-foot IDS Playhouse Plaza complex got a green light Monday from the Pasadena Design Commission.
The new design concept shifts much of the project’s mass away from the historic Pasadena Playhouse directly across the street.
Hammers won’t start swinging on the six-story, $70 million project at the southeast corner of El Molino Avenue and Colorado Boulevard until the developer, IDS Real Estate, can prove to the commission that it’s met a series of conditions related to architecture and windows, according to John Poindexter, the city’s planning manager.
But the project could still be scuttled, as a preservationist group is asking a judge to overturn its approval.
Members of the group, Pasadenans for a Livable City, claim the Pasadena City Council flouted state environmental review laws when it approved the project in December 2009 without an adequate review of traffic its 522-space subterranean parking garage would generate. They also criticize the council for skirting community design guidelines citizens helped create to allow the project additional square footage in exchange for public amenities so that it would be financially viable.
One main issue of contention for the project’s initial design was the imposing presence its five stories would have had on Pasadena Playhouse directly across the street. The new design calls for a two- to three-story façade facing the Playhouse, instead of four or five stories under the initial proposal. After gaining council approval, the project stalled twice before the Design Commission before the council ordered a subcommittee of the commission to hammer out a compromise with the developer.
David Saeta, senior vice president for IDS Real Estate, and members of Pasadenans for a Livable City, founded by former City Councilman Sid Tyler, did not immediately return calls for comment.
The next hearing in the lawsuit against the project is scheduled Sept. 27.
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