Developer to Buy Ambassador College Site

A California real estate developer has agreed to buy one of the Southland’s largest and most historically rich development sites: the 48-acre former campus of Ambassador College in Pasadena.

Foster City-based Legacy Partners, which also is redeveloping the former railroad property known as Taylor Yards near San Fernando road and the Glendale Freeway, has agreed to pay in excess of $100 million for the property owned by Worldwide Church of God.

Legacy hopes to develop a mixed-use “urban village” on the property that would blend upscale apartments, ground-floor retail space, housing for seniors and a hotel and conference center with the handful of historic mansions and large concert hall on the site. The property is bounded by Green Street, Del Mar Boulevard, Delacey Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard.

“We want to take what they have done and build upon that heritage,” said Legacy partner Bill Shubin. “We’ll take the best part of what they have and then take the buildings that don’t have any commercial value and figure out how to redevelop them.”

He anticipates razing most of the college buildings, but preserving the Ambassador Auditorium; four mansions, including the 28-room Tudor showplace Mayfair; and a handful of other significant structures.

The intricately landscaped campus, with its waterfalls and public sculptures, has been on the market for almost three years. Several other developers made offers on the property, but none had the large-scale residential and commercial development expertise of Legacy, said Bernard Schnippert, treasurer of Worldwide Church of God. He expects Legacy, which signed a letter of intent to purchase the property, to open escrow soon.

Last summer, Pasadena adopted the West Gateway specific plan, which set guidelines for rezoning the campus from public to commercial use. Shubin said Legacy is pushing to get the property’s zoning changed to comply with that plan, a process that he estimated could take a year or more.

However, city officials said they are willing to work with the developer to speed entitlements.