Update on Sale of Campus

Master development
consultant chosen

Schnippert.jpg (6176 bytes) By Bernie Schnippert

On July 24, after a thorough interview process, the church chose SheaHomes, headquartered in Walnut, California, to serve as the master development consultant for the campus sale. Shea was chosen from a field of more than 100 interested parties.

Reaction to the choice was positive from civic leaders, neighborhood associations, preservationists and the Pasadena Star-News editorial board. SheaHomes is the largest privately held building firm in the nation, and is known nationwide for its commitment to homeowner services. Shea’s experience at developing master-planned residential communities was a critical factor in the church’s decision to employ Shea.

John Shea, part of the company’s founding family, is a Pasadena resident and is known and respected in the community. Bob Yoder, vice president of Community Development for Shea, will lead the Shea effort.

Unlike the arrangement with Legacy, Shea is not buying the property, but rather will work alongside the Pasadena project team to create the new campus development plan, coordinate an environmental impact report and acquire entitlements and a development agreement. Shea will also oversee the infrastructure design and construction necessary to support new building parcels.

After the agreement was signed, church officials immediately began to notify key community leaders by telephone of the decision. Representatives from the church and Shea then met with a Pasadena Star-News reporter, after which they, along with key consultants, traveled to City Hall to meet with members of the City’s Planning Department to make introductions and to map out an efficient working process.

Next, Bob Yoder, along with Les Thomas, president of Shea’s Southern California division, and I met with the editorial review board at the Pasadena Star-News.

In the late afternoon of July 24, I conducted an all-employee meeting at the Ambassador Auditorium to announce the decision and outline the process so employees could have advance notice before reading about it in the newspaper the next morning.

An editorial in the July 26 Pasadena Star-News made reference to what, in another community, might be considered "undue interest" regarding the campus development, because "It isn’t ours [i.e., the City’s or the neighbors’] after all."

Citizens and associations have taken active roles in the development process. Many Pasadena neighborhoods have coalesced into associations to help manage their interests. The West Pasadena Residents Association (WPRA) is closest to the campus and represents about 4,400 homeowners. Plans are under way to begin a series of community meetings for civic leaders, neighbors and preservation organizations so SheaHomes and the yet-to-be named architect and other consultants may hear concerns and questions.

Doing so will allow for a higher quality planned community and allow planners to work through controversial issues. All Pasadena project team members are focused on community outreach in an effort to keep everyone comfortable with the process and the planned outcome. Following initial community input, a more formal scoping session will take place regarding the environmental impact report.

The next major hurdle will be to interview and select an architect appropriate to both the uniqueness of the property and to the challenge of making the shared vision of the property’s future a widely embraced and highly acclaimed reality.

The architect’s task will be to explore alternatives for the overall design of the property and architectural styles for the various parcels. Pasadena is a community sensitive to design elements that don’t blend well with existing architecture.

Team member Mat Morgan, assistant chief financial officer, said, "Our goal is to create a new community that will serve Pasadena well for generations to come and reap the best possible return for the benefit of the church."

Charles McKinney, a member of the West Pasadena Residents Association, told the Pasadena Star-News, "We would like the kind of development that 50 years from now, we would fight to preserve."

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