Street comes back to life with new shops surrounding Macy's.

WHEN it opened in 1947, the Bullock's in Pasadena was dubbed the "store of tomorrow" and it inspired a surge of retail development on South Lake Avenue.

A half-century later, South Lake is still banking on tomorrow.

An outdoor mall that wraps around the store (it's now a Macy's), along with other retail and mixed-use developments, have infused some vitality into the area.

"The street has really come to life since they redid the Macy's," said Renee Grifka, a shopper at the nearby women's clothing chain Anthropologie, which opened in 2003. "It used to be dead and now there are people out strolling."

New sites in the South Lake district, bordered by Colorado Avenue to the north and California Boulevard to the south, include the Lofts on South Lake (at Green Street), a six-story apartment building with ground-floor retail and second-story office space; the Pasadena Collection (at Hudson Avenue), with retail space, 38 New York-style lofts and 72 residential condominiums; and the pending San Pasqual Residential Development on California Boulevard that will add nearly 80 new condo units spread over four buildings.

"The City of Pasadena did a plan amendment last year that changed South Lake's zoning to include mixed-use," said Robert Champion, whose company developed the Pasadena Collection and the nearby site of Ross Dress for Less.

Glamorous past

The Bullock's, designed in Art Deco style by architect Welton Becket, was aimed at California's post-war suburban culture. Customers arrived by car for a shopping experience in a location that emulated a private estate. Its success brought retailers such as I. Magnin and Lane Bryant onto South Lake.

By the mid-1960s, upscale shops dominated lower South Lake. A rush of office development followed, altering the street's northern complexion above Green Street.

As Old Pasadena came to life in the '80s and '90s, South Lake retailers gave way to discount houses such as Stroud's, Ross and Shoe Pavilion.

"South Lake became Pasadena's financial center, but the retail component was ignored or faded away," said Robert Montano, business district coordinator for the City of Pasadena (a property-based business improvement district is being contemplated). "The turning point was the Shops at South Lake, and the shift in the association's board, which began to represent both property owners and merchants."

With an estimated 3 million square feet of office space, filled mostly with smaller tenants, the area now recalls the days of Bullock's and adjacent I. Magnin (now home to a Border's Books and Music).

Wrapping around Macy's are the Shops at South Lake, a 136,000-square-foot outdoor mall developed by Rhode Island-based Starwood Wasserman. Tenants Trader Joe's, Corner Bakery and Organized Living are believed to be paying lease rates of $3 to $5 a square foot.

Locals have always had a say in the growth of South Lake. When Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises, the original developer for the Shops at South Lake, proposed plans that included a multiplex cinema on the 21-acre site, residents intervened. The non-profit foundation, Pasadena Heritage, filed suit and quashed Forest City's concept.

Tradition is so strong that the original landscape architect for Bullock's, 96-year old Ruth Shellhorn, and Welton Becket's architect son, Bruce, have been hired to help oversee the upcoming renovation of Macy's facade.

Submittals are pending on the San Pasqual project, also developed by Starwood Wasserman. If completed according to plan, the site will provide 586 new parking spaces for both residential and commercial use.

Pascal Benoist, general manager of the Wheatberry Bakery Cafe on the Pasadena Collection's ground floor, expects the condo owners above him to boost his receipts on weekends, when the office trade is gone.

"I live a few blocks away and found a place to buy my French magazines," Benoist said. "To me, it feels like being home in France."