South Pasadena officials, state representatives and community members gathered Wednesday to celebrate the city’s recent acquisition of five historic homes previously owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), a milestone in a struggle that began 60 years ago.
The homes are part of more than 60 properties in South Pasadena that Caltrans seized in the 1960s for the now-abandoned 710 Freeway project.
They are now being offered for sale at fair market sale, with the proceeds going toward affordable housing—as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to restore the properties to the neighborhoods after decades of uncertainty.
The city of South Pasadena showcases one of the first five historic Caltrans-owned properties which they are selling on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. There are over 60 Caltrans properties in the city. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
At the ceremony held in front of one of these properties, at 216 Fairview Ave., South Pasadena city councilmembers, Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, and Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, addressed the roughly 30 attendees and reflected on the long and often bittersweet journey to reclaim these properties.
“It’s a happy occasion, because we’ve fought for this for the longest time,” South Pasadena Mayor Evelyn Zneimer said in an interview after the event. “I first got involved in 1998 to raise funds for our defense attorney, we sued Caltrans…the trade off is we neglected our streets, so now we’re fixing it.”
The properties, purchased through eminent domain in the 1960s, were meant to be used as the site for the now-nixed 710 freeway expansion to the 210. Around 460 homes in El Sereno, Pasadena and South Pasadena were on the footprint of the expansion until the project was officially terminated in 2018.
For South Pasadena, a small city of around 25,000 people, the battle against the freeway project was anything but easy.
Anteneh Tesfaye, dep. dir. of South Pasadena Public Works, locks up on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 a former historic Caltrans-owned home on Fairview Avenue in South Pasadena which the city is selling for over $1 million. The city has put the first five of over 60 Caltrans properties in their city up for sale. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
In the 1970s and 1980s, the city, along with environmental groups, successfully blocked the extension through legal challenges.
More recently, in October 2023, the city withdrew from a two-year court battle with Caltrans over the right to purchase an apartment complex in the 710 freeway corridor, claiming the state agency failed to offer them the first rights to buy the land, favoring a church development group instead.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to all of those freeway fighters who stood up at a time when very few people were standing up,” Portantino said in his remarks. “If you remember historically, every city in the state of California had the ability to negotiate freeway agreements except South Pasadena. Let me say that again, every city in the state of California had the ability to negotiate except South Pasadena, and that was taken away by legislation.”
Dan Murdoch, Caltrans’ deputy district director, Right of Way, expressed the state agency’s appreciation for its partnership with the city and for Senate Bill 381.
The legislation, authored by Portantino, allows the city of South Pasadena to buy vacant homes from Caltrans at their original 1960s acquisition price. The city can then sell the homes at market value, with proceeds being reinvested in affordable housing, and for every historic home sold, three affordable housing units must be created.
South Pasadena Mayor Pro Tem Jack Donavan stops to look over a dining room light which he says looks like one in his home as he tours a former historic Caltrans-owned home on Fairview Avenue in South Pasadena which the city is selling for over $1 million on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. The city has put the first five of over 60 Caltrans properties in their city up for sale. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“We’re really enthusiastic to see these properties sold back into the community and be part of the fabric of South Pasadena,” Murdoch said. “This is just one of many that is moving forward as a result of the efforts of the legislation and all the work that’s been done.”
During an interview after the event, Murdoch said Caltrans is working on an estimated 45 escrows across the cities of Los Angeles, South Pasadena and Pasadena.
Councilmember Jon Primuth said that there are around 68 total Caltrans properties in South Pasadena, which includes two vacant lots and roughly 19 or 20 vacant properties. These vacant properties are categorized as either historical or non-historical, he said.
“The vacant properties are being offered to the city, and the city can turn around and sell them, and use the money for affordable housing,” he told the Southern California News Group. “The 40-plus tenant occupied properties are being sold to the tenants, which means Caltrans is doing a lot of property sales right there.”
The South Pasadena Preservation Foundation, a longtime advocate in the effort surrounding Caltrans surplus homes, has made it a key mission to ensure that the properties seized by Caltrans are sold to local residents, rather than developers.
Joanne Nuckols, a former foundation board member who attended the event on Wednesday, said she is delighted to finally see the sale of the first five houses and hopes the process will move quickly to benefit the community.
“It’s (710 project)’s really not dead until the last house is sold, so that is our goal, is to make sure that happens as swiftly and quickly as possible.”
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