PASADENA MALL OPENS WITH FESTIVAL-STYLE FLAIR.

Byline: Elizabeth Lee Staff Writer

PASADENA - Greeting visitors with a Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic performance, TrizecHahn Development on Friday opened Paseo Colorado, heir to the old Plaza Pasadena mall.

The $220 million shopping and residential complex opened just after 9 a.m. in front of hundreds of onlookers.

``This is a proud and happy day for the city of Pasadena,'' Mayor Bill Bogaard told the crowd.

Soon afterward, TrizecHahn Senior Vice President Richard Froese Jr., Bogaard and others pulled a red chiffon sash, dropping a huge curtain and opening a view corridor that stretched north to the Central Library and south to the Civic Auditorium.

It was a long-awaited moment for some Pasadenans and city officials, who had disdained the mall that stood on Colorado Boulevard for 20 years.

``In the South, we have an expression. It's 'to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear,''' said John Williams, CEO of Post Properties Inc., the Atlanta-based developer of Paseo's 387 luxury apartments. ``When you consider what we had before, and what we have now, we have indeed created a silk purse.''

The old, fortress-like mall blocked the view from the library to the auditorium, occupying space that was intended to remain open by early 20th-century planner Edward Bennett.

Some 45 to 50 stores were open Friday, but about 30 tenant spaces weren't leased or weren't ready to open.

The tenant roster includes tony shops like Coach, Ann Taylor Loft and MAC Cosmetics, all new to Pasadena. There's also a Gelson's market and a luxury fitness club, and Pacific Theatres will soon open 14 screens there. A renovated Macy's, which was part of the old Plaza Pasadena, anchors the east end of the development, and the entire project sits atop the garage from the old mall.

The executives of Toronto-based TrizecHahn praised the spirit of community surrounding the project. But such sentiments didn't impress critics, who say Paseo is economically inaccessible for many Pasadenans.

The development opens at the cusp of a nationwide recession. TrizecHahn plans to sell Paseo within two years, though executives insisted it has nothing to do with the uncertain economic climate.

The company announced in February it was shedding its retail properties and would focus on its core product, office buildings. The company will retain ownership of the Hollywood and Highland project, home to Academy Awards show beginning next year.

Executives said the company would wait until Paseo has established a foothold in the retail market before trying to sell it.

``It has to mature,'' Froese said. ``We would not take a project to market until its season (had arrived).''

CEO Lee Wagman said he was confident Paseo would do well despite the slowing economy. Officials believe since most of the stores are new to Pasadena, Paseo will occupy an unfilled niche.

``I think we'll be in good shape,'' Wagman said. He added, however, ``I think it's going to take perhaps a little longer to reach its full potential.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Regan Patno, left, of the Tweaksters entertainment troupe waves a 75-foot ribbon over the opening of the Paseo Colorado complex Friday.

(2) no caption (Paseo Colorado)

Walt Mancini/Staff Photographer