By Bill Hendrickson
Imad Boukai, the Orange County businessman who owns the Pillarhenge site in Eagle Rock, has entered into a contract to sell the property. Located at 1332 Colorado Boulevard, Pillarhenge had been on the market for 12 days before the contract was signed on Dec. 18.
The asking price was $2.99 million, though the actual sale price is unknown at this point. Also unknown is the identity of the buyer. The listing agent, Keller Williams Pacific Estates, did not respond to requests from the Boulevard Sentinel for details about the transaction. Such details become public information after a deal closes.
What is known is that the offer to sell Pillarhenge includes the plans Boukai drew up to develop the site into a 4-story, 31-unit apartment building over two levels of parking and commercial space, with three of the apartments set aside for very low-income tenants. The plan – a beached-whale of a building at some 55,000 square feet — was one of the first to take advantage of the city’s rules for “Transit Oriented Communities,” adopted in 2017 to incentivize denser development near public transit.
The saga of Pillarhenge began in 2008, when a developer who planned to develop a 40,000 square-foot, 17-unit live-work building abandoned the project, leaving behind the ugly expanse of concrete columns that Eagle Rockers took to calling “Pillarhenge.”
Shortly before and after Boukai bought the property for $1.9 million in 2016, the owners and Council District 14 took some remedial action to clean up the site. Over the ensuing years, Boukai has worked in fits and starts to clear his development plans with the city of Los Angeles, but Pillarhenge has remained the eyesore at the edge of town it has been since 2008.
And now, Boukai has offered the property as is with an emphasis on its development potential. Here’s the sales pitch from the listing agent:
“OUTSTANDING LOCATION close to Old Town Pasadena, Freeways, and City of Glendale. SALE includes designs, drawings, and blueprints for 31 UNITS planned for the entire block between Linda Rosa Avenue and Holbrook Street. Much of the ground work and preconstruction was already taken care of. BUYERS to verify all data, permits, etc. AN EXCELLENT Opportunity for a great finished project with strong future income. PROPERTY OWNER is in process of getting FINAL APPROVAL on plans & designs. Current copies of drawings are not all fully ‘finalized’, but the process should be completed within a few weeks per SELLER.”
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Bill Hendrickson, MBA, publisher of the Boulevard Sentinel, has extensive small business management, marketing and sales experience in corporate finance and real estate development and plays a not terrible game of golf.
HA! Only three units will go to people in need. That’s such a joke! Yes, legally they only have to accommodate 10% of the building h to low income housing, but right here, in front of our eyes is the problem. The city could’ve bought the property to BUILD units that it so badly needs for low income housing. Instead, a mere three will be allotted, while a one-bedroom unit will, probably, rent for $2,100 a month or more. Shameful.
Maybe they did. Who else would bother with such a disaster?
The Pillarhenge has been an embarrassment at the entry to our fair city for 13 years! The original permits must have expired, with the current demands far different. The ERNC and the city must revisit the development based on today and the future needs and wants. Low income, “worker-bees” housing are needed on this site. Not Market-rate rentals!
Agreed.
“Commercial space”? On a boulevard that, per Metro’s quarter-billion dollar “Rapid Bus” boondoggle, will soon have zero parking? What commercial space will be viable there? Here’s an idea: Ask Jeff Bezos to set aside an hour or two of his earnings and ask him to buy it. “Bezos Amazon Prime Park” could be a combo dog park/package drop-off point.
This debacle is the fault of Joey Weezer, who was a HORRIBLE Councilman who STILL has not been held accountable for his corruption
Whenever there’s a vacant piece of property of any kind in Eagle Rock, people who have no means or intention of buying and developing it weigh in with useless advice and opinions. If someone buys this eyesore and gets rid of the graffiti and garbage, I’ll be ecstatic.
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Good point!
Whoever or whatever buys this it will be the same. Must be the most bought n sold property around. Wasn’t there a issue with the property right behind it with the hill coming down ? I don’t know seems like a HUIZAR deal. And what a cluster issue right by the fwy. Btw been watching n counting how many ppl ride the bus. Tops 8 ppl. The only reason metro wants this aboration is they need 2 spend their budget funds so they can get more. Happy New yr
people who have no means or intention of buying and developing it weigh in with useless advice and opinions. If someone buys this eyesore and gets rid of the graffiti and garbage, I’ll be ecstatic.