Seven years after engineering firm Parsons decamped from Pasadena to Washington, D.C., the company's former headquarters building is poised to make way for new housing.

The project, which is being reviewed by the Pasadena Design Commission, is an expansion of AMLI Residential's AMLI Old Pasadena apartments, located 100 West Walnut Street. Prior redevelopment efforts involved the eastern parking lots of the Parsons campus, which have been transformed 210,000 square feet of offices, 17,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and 400 apartments as part of the aforementioned housing complex.

Holly PlazaAMLI Residential / TCA Architects / MJS Landscape Architecture / Relm

AMLI's new plan calls for razing the 12-story former Parsons building, as well as the property's eastern parking lots, to clear the way for the construction of a collection of four-to-seven-story buildings containing 975 residential units above a 1,467-car subterranean parking garage. The more than 1.1 million square foot development would also include a new paseo cutting east-to-west across the 22-acre property, as well as two new plazas and 25,000 square feet of resident amenities.

Project approvals would include density bonus incentives to permit a larger building than otherwise allowed by zoning rules. The project would provide 85 moderate-income units, 43 low-income units, and 43 very low-income units in exchange for those incentives.

Site plan for AMLI Old PasadenaAMLI Residential / TCA Architects / MJS Landscape Architecture / Relm

The project is being designed by a team that includes TCA Architects, MJS Landscape Architecture, and Relm. Plans show a series of contemporary podium-type buildings, arranged around the network of private and publicly-accessible open spaces, including some units opening directly onto the street.

The proposed development, which is presented for a preliminary consultation, comes about as Pasadena officials ponder the redevelopment of the property once slated for the never-built 710 Freeway extension to the southwest with housing.

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