Mack Urban JV Breaks Ground on $50M M-U Project in Pasadena

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Union Village, a new 118-unit luxury mixed-use residential project in Pasadena, Calif., has just gotten underway with a recent groundbreaking. Mack Urban and Mill Creek Development Co. are working with equity partner Cigna Investment Management to bring the $50 million suburban Los Angeles project to fruition.

The Beach Boys sang about “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena” in the 1960s. Indeed, there was a time when the city, located roughly 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, was considered a locale for the slower set; however, such is no longer the case.

“There are younger demographic shifts, as younger adults are now interested in Pasadena,” John Gunn, managing director, Mack Urban, told Commercial Property Executive.

Certainly, Pasadena has emerged as a destination for the trendy and lively. Union Village, with its high-end apartments and 7,600 square feet of ground-level retail space that will be anchored by an upscale destination restaurant, will fit in perfectly.

Sprouting up in the form of two two- to six-story structures on just over one acre in Pasadena’s Playhouse District, Union Village has been designed by RTKL Associates Inc. to blend in with the area’s 1920s-era Spanish architecture, of which the neighboring Pasadena Playhouse is a prime example. The new development will be high in walkability, but it will also offer a 220-space subterranean parking facility because Greater Los Angeles, for all of its Metro expansion activity, is still very much a car town.

It appears the timing of Union Village is just right. “High barriers to entry and shifts in lifestyle have spurred demand.” Gunn said. “And generally, there’s a lack of supply for luxury rentals, and more interest in apartment life.”

Union Village is on schedule to make its debut in January 2016.