Del Mar Station

Location: Pasadena, CA. Edge of Old Town Pasadena

Del Mar Station is a transit-oriented development surrounding one of the most prominent Metro Rail stops connecting Los Angeles and Old Town Pasadena. It is located adjacent to Central Park and near the historic Hotel Green. Because this transit-oriented development project surrounding the station is on the southern edge of Pasadena’s Old Town, it is designed as a gateway to the city. Its program includes 347 housing units, 20,000 sf of retail area, and a subterranean garage for 1,200 cars. Its design incorporates a variety of building and unit types, and despite its size, it is consistent with the height and mass of surrounding buildings and the traffic-handling capacity of adjacent streets. Del Mar Station is largely a rental housing project. Yet it is designed to define an extensive network of public plazas and paseos around the transit stop and to provide private courtyards for each one of its buildings.

Del Mar occupies one of the most significant areas within the city: across the street from an Olmstead-designed park, one-quarter mile from the city's historic downtown, immediately adjacent to a new light-rail line, and at the terminus of one of the region's high traffic freeways. The 3.4-acre site is flanked by three streets including the main vehicular entry into the city, whose streetscape will be concurrently restored. An adjacent street to downtown is smaller, well-traveled, and pedestrian-oriented. To the north is a large parcel of land slated for extensive mixed-use development. The site is bisected by the north-south light-rail line.

Immediately west of the rail line is a Spanish Revival-style train depot that has been restored and converted for civic and retail use. The design protects the small building by limiting the adjacent massing to two stories. Housing and retail skirt three sides of the plaza, the station completing the fourth side. The rail right-of-way is designed as a street with public sidewalks, plantings, lighting, and buildings.

In order to achieve a project density of 100 units per acre without overwhelming the depot, most housing is located in seven-story buildings at the center of the site and an adjacent corner. This facilitates lower massing on street fronts and adjacent to the depot. A small piazza adjacent to the depot eases the transition to the four-story massing to the north. The seven-story building facing the public plaza steps down to permit natural daylight to reach the paseo and plaza.

Four residential buildings feature private courtyards. Housing typologies include liners to conceal at-grade parking structures, stacked flats, traditional courtyard housing, townhouses, and walk-up lofts. The architecture recognizes the particular character of individual buildings by reducing them into distinct historic styles: industrial loft, modern commercial, Mediterranean revival, craftsman, and moderne residential.

This project is designed on the premise that a diverse mix of both inhabitants and uses will generate a significant urban place. The project incorporates a variety of buildings designed to accommodate a multitude of uses. The variety of unit sizes and vertical unit stratification stimulate a range of prices (larger units on higher floors with prime views fetch higher prices than units on lower floors). In addition, a percentage of the units - dispersed throughout the project - have been reserved for lower income individuals and families. A day care facility is included among the ground floor commercial uses.

Del Mar’s design strives to complement and connect with the surrounding dense residential neighborhoods. Streetscape improvements on surrounding streets will encourage residents of these neighborhoods to walk to the station. Careful coordination with the local bus agencies has insured that local bus lines stop at the park across the street from the site. A bicycle storage room has been designated specifically for the public's use.

Transect Zone(s): T5 center.
Status: Complete
Project or Plan's Scale: Block
Features: Affordable/subsidized housing, Live/work, Mixed uses, Rail/fixed guideway transit, Transit oriented development.
Land area (in acres): 325
Total built area (in sq. ft.):
Total project cost (in local currency):
Retail area (in sq. ft.): 20000
Office area (in sq. ft.):
Industrial area (in sq. ft.):
Number of hotel units:
Number of residential units (include live/work): 347
Parks & green space (in acres):
Residential types: Mid-rise/loft, Low-rise flats, Live/work.
Project team designers: Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists
Project team developers: Urban Partners, LLC (original developers); sold to Archstone-Smith during construction

Previous site status:

Starting/Ending date of construction/implementation: -