After languishing for decades due to a contentious freeway project that never got built, empty homes in El Sereno that were once slated for demolition are now being prepared for new owners.
Leaders of San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity announced plans Friday to purchase and rehab some of the vacant properties currently owned by Caltrans. The state’s transportation department originally bought the homes to clear a path for a connection between the 710 and 210 freeways.
With those construction plans now officially dead, Caltrans has started putting the homes up for sale in batches. SGV Habitat officials say they’re closing on deals to buy 16 of the vacant properties. They plan to fix them up and sell them to low-income, first-time homebuyers.
“The oldest house that we’re looking to purchase was actually acquired by Caltrans in 1961,” Bryan Wong, CEO of SGV Habitat, told LAist. “We’re excited to jump in and get these things ready to go.”
The history behind El Sereno’s many vacant homes
Aerial view over time of the neighborhoods where the 710 extension was planned. Other properties were bought by the state along the route, but not demolished.
Courtesy City of Pasadena/UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
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Caltrans bought hundreds of homes in the 1950s and 1960s in preparation for the 710 connection project. Originally a surface-level freeway that would have run…
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