Mixed-use developments put focus on Lake Avenue district. (Spotlight on Pasadena).

LONG overshadowed by its better-known L neighbor, Old Pasadena, the city's South Lake Avenue district is finally getting some attention.

Helped by changes in Pasadena's general plan, two projects incorporating office, retail and residential space could turn what was primarily an office corridor into a live-work community.

"South Lake is already a retail district with a lot of people on the street," said Robert Champion, president of Champion Development in Los Angeles. "Mixed-use will only enhance that."

On a recent Friday afternoon Champion stood on the corner of Lake and Cordova Street taking photos of his latest venture: a four-story, 150,000 square foot project that will feature office, retail and residential components.

Traffic was horrible at the intersection, partly because of an anti-war protest that had many drivers slowing to honk their horns, but mostly because a massive crane and stacks of steel were occupying two of the street's four lanes. "I'm responsible for that," Champion said of the congestion.

Other developers are also active on Lake Avenue, where final touches are being put on a 140,000-square-foot retail development surrounding the South Lake Macy's. Moving northward, there is Champion's project and then, at Lake and Green Street, a Houston-based developer will soon break ground on a new loft development that would add 103 new units to the 72 at Champion's $40 million project dubbed Pasadena Collection.

South Lake has generated a number of antidevelopment squabbles, which at their height included lawsuits and pamphlet wars.

Champion originally planned to build a hotel where his mixed-use project will soon stand, but was unable to secure financing. Instead he proposed a 150,000-square-foot office building, only to be thwarted because of neighborhood concerns about traffic.

The new project, scheduled for completion in September, will have 75,000 square feet of office and retail space, plus an additional 75,000 square feet of residential. Champion has not yet announced tenants for the development.

"The activity has been good and we anticipate announcing some tenants in the near future' said Doug Marlow, a senior vice president at CR Riehard Ellis, which is marketing the property.

To get approval, an amendment had to be made to Pasadena's general plan to allow mixed-use in the South Lake district, Champion said. Soon after that, the loft project was proposed up the street.

South Lake became a retail strip in 1947 when a Bullock's department store opened where Macy's stands today. Two years later, an L Magnin opened next door, followed by Lane Bryant and Barker Brothers. Office space began to emerge in the 1960s and continued into the '70s and '80s, establishing South Lake as Pasadena's financial center.

By the end of the 1980s, discount stores like Ross Dress for Less had replaced upscale retailers. Investment dollars poured into Old Pasadena, attracting most of the higher-end stores, and South Lake was largely ignored.

Plans to revamp the South Lake district first came in the mid-1990s, when Cleveland-based Forest City Development proposed a retail complex to surround the old Bullock's site. The idea met with opposition from community groups, which charged that the development would turn South Lake into a traffic nightmare and that the historical significance of the Bullock's site would be destroyed by the "Macy's Mall."

The six-year battle ended only after homeowners filed a lawsuit resulting in a pared down version of the original plan that reduced the project by several thousand square feet and eliminated a proposed movie theatre.

"The concern was it was too much and too big," said Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage conservancy agency and a Pasadena resident for 24 years.

Today Pasadena has more than 321,000 square feet of commercial space under construction, according to Grubb & Ellis Co., more than any other area in the county except Century City, with its huge Constellation Place development.

Though the street has a metropolitan feel with its tall office buildings, the retail mix along Lake Avenue is not unlike a typical mall. Besides Macy's, there is a Koo-Koo Roo, Wahoo's Fish Tacos, Borders Books and soon, a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

"The whole concept of living near where you work and play makes ultimate sense," Mossman said. "Pasadena is hot. Now if we can just hold on to our historic buildings and our quality of life."