Rusnak/Pasadena Porsche Dealership Gets Approval

A new Porsche dealership in Pasadena has been given the green light after some design changes.

The city’s Design Commission voted unanimously to approve the final design for Rusnak Auto Group’s new Porsche dealership at 2915 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena Now reported.

The approved plans call for a 61,370-square-foot sales and service facility with a 4,864-square-foot automated car wash, as well as an attached public art plaza. But developers must meet four conditions addressing accessibility, lighting, building materials and environmental concerns in order to move forward.

Commissioners instructed the development team, composed of applicant Rusnak/Pasadena and architect Goree Whitfield, to revise the Colorado Boulevard frontage to ensure people of all abilities can enter the plaza via the same path, thereby eliminating a separate accessible route.

“That’s a much more elegant solution where you don’t actually separate people with different abilities,” Commissioner Srinivas Rao said, per Pasadena Now.

City zoning rules restricting upward-facing lighting also require the developer to create a glare-reducing lighting plan for the sides and rear of the building. “The zoning code does have requirements for shielding and downlight,” Pasadena Principal Planner Kevin Johnson pointed out.

In addition, the team will have to lighten the color of the brick used on large wall areas to prevent a uniform monolithic exterior and to create contrast with the aluminum composite panels on the building. Officials said the current plan for dark brick might be an eyesore to pedestrians and took away from the visual warmth common in Pasadena.

The team will also have to adhere to the tweaked plans for the ground of the plaza. The applicant proposed using artificial turf “pods” beneath the public art installation in place of previously proposed “turf block” plantings due to maintenance issues under parked cars.

Planning Commission Chair Julianna Delgado wants the team to steer clear of synthetic turf entirely, citing its fossil fuel origins, heat-island effects and water-use implications. The commission is requiring a sustainability review of the proposed material and comparison with greener alternatives in order to advance.

The historic Swanson & Peterson Furniture Factory building on the new site is not eligible for historic designation, according to city staff. While the owner plans to keep the structure, any major alterations would trigger additional design review by the city.

Now that the dealership design has been approved, the project will have to secure building permits and a plan check, whereby officials verify compliance with both interdepartmental and commission-imposed conditions.

— Chris Malone Méndez