MONROVIA, CA-Pacific Coast Capital Partners of El Segundo, Los Angeles-based Barker Pacific Group and Orange County-based Argosy Investors have formed a joint venture to develop a new residential condominium and retail condo project called Colorado Commons at Old Town. The mixed-use project will include 68 residential condominiums and four commercial condominium units in Old Town Monrovia on the northeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Primrose Avenue.

The property will feature a walkway connecting it to Myrtle Avenue for access to the Myrtle Avenue shopping and dining district, which is about a half mile from the Colorado Commons development site. The 2.11-acre site is entitled for the development of five residential buildings consisting of three levels plus one level of mezzanine.

The main residential component of Colorado Commons will include 29 one-bedroom units, 28 two-bedroom units and 11 three-bedroom units that will range from 693 sf to 2,144 sf. Construction is anticipated to begin this month, with completion of the first residential building by the end of December 2007 and the last residential building by the end of January 2008.

The developers are marketing the four commercial condo units to owner-users. The commercial condos, approximately 1,100 sf each, will be located at the ends of the residential buildings and directly across from existing retail that fronts the pedestrian walkway.

The joint venture sees Colorado Commons as "a strategic investment in a market that is underserved in terms of new housing options," says Jennifer Diaz, VP of Pacific Coast Capital Partners. No new attached housing has been built in the market in several years and no other new residential projects within the City of Monrovia are expected to be delivered close to the same time as Colorado Commons, she notes.

The project site is currently used for public parking to support the retail uses lining Myrtle Avenue. In partnership with the City of Monrovia, the joint venture will replace the existing 125 public parking places with a four-story parking structure.

The parking structure will total 342 spaces, 187 of them for public use. The remaining spaces will be used for residential and guest parking for the condominiums.