By Mathew Morgan
By Mathew Morgan
PASADENA—Dickson Podley Realtors, acting on behalf of the church, was host for an open house Dec. 6 and 7 to officially start the marketing
 OPEN HOUSE [Photo by Ruthie Fuller] |
process for five historic homes on Orange Grove Boulevard.
The event, which drew more than 3,000 visitors and was covered on most major television stations in the area, resulted in multiple purchase offers on all the homes. One home has already sold, and two are in escrow, with the others expected to follow shortly.
Ambassador campus entitlements
Progress continues on the entitlements for the Ambassador campus. The next major milestone in the process will be the release of the draft environmental impact report (Draft EIR). The EIR, prepared by the City of Pasadena, is an independent analysis required for many entitlement or development efforts to evaluate the potential effects of new developments on the environment.
Although we expected the report to be issued in December, we were informed by the city staff that it would be released in January. A certain amount of delay is not uncommon on these technical and complicated reports while the information, which is received from a myriad of consultants, is gathered and organized for public release.
Ambassador Auditorium
As part of our ongoing efforts to entitle the Pasadena headquarters property, the church continues to explore options for the Ambassador Auditorium. When the church filed the application for the Ambassador campus planned development, the Auditorium had not been open for public performing arts events for about eight years. No public or private institutions had expressed viable interest in reopening the Auditorium for performances during that time.
The church therefore decided to submit a plan for the property that included housing on the auditorium site in the event a viable solution to retain the Auditorium could not be found.
However, the church and the entitlement team have continued relentlessly to seek solutions to reopen the Ambassador that would be fiscally responsible for the church and provide a framework to reopen the Auditorium to the public. We are making progress. We continue to work with the City of Pasadena and a local nonprofit group called the Ambassador Hall Board toward this end.
The Ambassador Hall Board, consisting of more than 20 respected local citizens, was formed specifically for the purpose of funding future operations in a reopened performing arts and educational venue at the Auditorium.
The board is co-chaired by two active arts volunteers, Alice Coulombe and Carol Henry. Mrs. Coulombe and her husband, Joe, created Trader Joe’s specialty supermarkets. Mrs. Coulombe is a member of the managing board of the Los Angeles Opera, co-founder and first president of the Los Angeles Opera League, and founding member and second president of the Pasadena Arts Commission.
Carol Henry possesses an equally distinguished arts resume. Mrs. Henry is the vice president of the Los Angeles Opera, former president and director emeritus of the Los Angeles Opera League, director of the Pasadena Art Alliance, and former trustee for the Art Center College of Design.
Other members of the board are distinguished in a wide variety of disciplines while all share a love of the arts and the Ambassador Auditorium.
We remain hopeful that a solution can be found that will benefit the church, the city and future residents of the community on the Ambassador campus.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2004