Mt. Sierra College to Get New Site at Myrtle and Huntington

Mt. Sierra College will get a much coveted site to build its new educational campus.

The Monrovia City Council, acting as the Successor Agency to the now disbanded Redevelopment Agency, voted 4-0 Tuesday night to allow staff to move forward with the Letter of Intent process so that the college can build on the vacant parcel at South Myrtle Avenue and West Huntington Drive.

Councilman Alexander Blackburn recused himself, adding that he had a conflict because he leases an office across from the college, and left the dais.

Citing the desire for a building that makes a statement and complements the other previously developed corners, the council members went with Mt. Sierra.

Councilman Tom Adams said some of the other proposals were more common around town, while there is only one Mt. Sierra College.

"It really makes a clean statement and a very impressive statement for that corner," Adams said. "And it's something you don't get anywhere else."

Three other projects that were in the running for the properties included a $30 million, four-star hotel with 120 rooms, a mixed-used retail and restaurant development by the same developers of the Huntington Oaks Shopping Center, and another restaurant/retail project anchored by 24-Hour Fitness.

Representatives of all four projects made their pitches to the agency board.

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz said that she was torn between the hotel and the college. A four-star hotel is something Monrovia does not have and it would generate significant revenue, she said.

"I am looking at revenue generation," she said. "It's something we have to look at."

During the staff presentation, Management Assistant Jennifer McLain said that the hotel proposed by Singpoli would generate the most revenue of the four proposals, around $500,000 of transit occupancy tax annually. The college would generate the least.

However, when it came time to vote, Lutz sided with her fellow council members in picking Mt. Sierra, adding that she hopes the retail component the college plans to add to the site will draw from the larger community and not just students.

Mt. Sierra College has had an existing campus at 101 E. Huntington Drive since 1999.  The school's lease expires in two years, so their plan is to complete construction by 2015, according to the staff report.

The proposed educational campus would feature a three-story, 32,000 square foot environmentally green building, including classrooms, an auditorium, a bookstore, offices, a roof top terrace, and up to two undisclosed retail uses.

Greg Kahwajian, a representative from the college, said Mt. Sierra is looking at an expanded bookstore and hinted at possible other uses on site related to food and computers.

The college had told the city that if they were unable to find another location soon, they might have to relocate outside of Monrovia.

"This location, in our opinion, is No. 1 for us," Kahwajian said. "It is the only option we have spent any time considering"