The Paseo is an outdoor mall in Pasadena,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, covering three city blocks with office space, shops, restaurants, a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, and 400 loft-style condominiums (called Terrace Apartment Homes) above. It is located in downtown Pasadena between

Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in Glendale, California, Glendale and parts of Arcadia, California, Arcadia) is a major east–west street in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east ...

to the north and Green Street to the south. Paseo Colorado is just east of and connected by a pedestrian bridge, the Garfield Promenade, to

Old Town Pasadena Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or simply Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Old Pasadena began as t ...

, and west of the center of downtown. The mall is located across Green Street from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in the Pasadena Conference Center. As of 2014, the mall is currently without an anchor retail

chain stores A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

since both

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

and a Gelson's Markets had closed in 2013.

History

Plaza Pasadena (1980 – 2001)

The site was originally occupied by a shopping mall called Plaza Pasadena, which opened in 1980 and featured three

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

s: J.C. Penney, The Broadway, and May Company California. It was built by The Hahn Company at a cost of $115 million on an 11-acre site and had featured over 120 stores. The development was designed by Charles Kober & Associates and the resulting design was awarded a Progressive Architecture Magazine Design Award in 1979. Despite initially being successful in its early years, redevelopments in

Old Pasadena Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or simply Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, California, Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Ol ...

took businesses and attention away from the mall. May Company closed its store there in 1989, and the space was divided among smaller stores. In 1998, following the conversion of the Broadway store to

two years earlier and the closure of J.C. Penney, the developers announced plans to tear down the mall and replace it with an outdoor center.

Paseo Colorado (2001 – 2017)

Paseo Colorado opened in September 2001, retaining the Macy's store from the original development and added a supermarket and movie theater complex. Two years later, the outdoor center was sold to Developers Diversified Realty Corp. for $114 million in 2003. In May 2010, Pacific Paseo 14 was replaced by ArcLight Pasadena. A few months later, the Paseo Colorado saw the opening of Noor, a 16,000 sq ft event space featuring state-of-the-art audio/visual and lighting and seating for up to 350 guests for banquets in its large ballroom, the Sofia, and 140 guests for banquets in its smaller ballroom, the Ella in November 2010. On January 3, 2013, Macy's announced their store at Paseo Colorado would close in early spring 2013. At the time of the store closure, there were plans to demolish the Macy's building and replace it with a multi-story hotel. In March 2013, Gelson's announced that they would close their store at Paseo Colorado on July 21, 2013. This store had been at this location since Paseo Colorado first opened 12 years prior. The closing of the supermarket in 2013 resulted for the first time in which the shopping development did not having a major retail anchor on the premise and thus marking the gradual move away from

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

and towards the

hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and beverage services, event planning, theme parks, travel agency, tourism, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Sector ...

. By late 2014, the mall was in the process of obtaining the necessary local governmental licenses to replace the vacant Macy's Department Store with a Hyatt Place hotel and mixed-use condominium complex. After obtaining the necessary permits, DDR began the demolition process in August 2015. In January 2016, DDR sold the retail development to Cypress Equities of Dallas.

The Paseo (2017 – present)

The shopping development was renamed The Paseo in 2017. H&M opened a new store in the development in December 2017. A Hyatt Place opened in December 2018; the site had formerly been occupied by a Macy's. ArcLight Pasadena was closed in March 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic. In April 2021, its parent company announced that none of its theaters would reopen. In April 2023, it was announced that

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain that operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 5,720 screens in 420 theaters as of December 31, 2024. Founded on August 10, 1989, it ...

had acquired the lease to the former Arclight Cinema at the mall and that it would reopen as part of the company's chain. On June 1, 2023, Regal Cinemas opened its doors at the former Arclight Cinemas. Rubio's Coastal Grill closed a third of its restaurants including its Paseo Pasadena location while it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paseo, The Residential condominiums in the United States Buildings and structures in Pasadena, California Shopping malls in the San Gabriel Valley Shopping malls established in 2001 Tourist attractions in Pasadena, California