DS Ventures could not be reached for comment.

But Eric Duyshart, Pasadena economic development manager, told Pasadena Now last week that DS Ventures a few weeks ago had shown officials in the Planning Department its preliminary ideas for the property.

Those plans, which Duyshart cautioned were subject to change, included senior housing, office space and open space. They did not include an urgent care center, Duyshart said.

Roberta Marti, chairperson of a neighborhood group called Emergency Care Now, told Pasadena Now Monday Pasadena City Councilmember Steve Haderlein, in whose district the property is located, told her weeks ago the project would include an urgent care facility.

But Haderlein told Pasadena Now this morning that Marti is mistaken, that he does not control what the project will be but that he has been advocating for an urgent care facility, open space, historic preservation and a use consistent with the neighborhood at the site.

Marti said her group intends to invite DS Ventures to a discussion where the group can express its concerns that the project include an urgent care facility. 

Altadena Town Councilman Steve Lamb noted that the closing of St. Luke affected not only Pasadena but Altadena and Los Angeles County as well.

“From the personal standpoint of a local community member and speaking as a individual, the closing of St. Lukes as a hospital has been a tragedy in terms of ease of access to medical care and local employment,” he told Pasadena Now. “That present plans from the developer do not include what so much of the Altadena and Pasadena communities have sought for that site, an urgent care facility, is both an insult to the community and a very large planning mistake that will become more and more clear as more of the population ages.”
 
Caltech purchased the property and buildings in July 2003 as a potential location for stand-alone, large-scale research programs and complementary uses that would not need daily campus services. The property has five residential sites as well as hospital and medical buildings.

The main hospital building is seven stories high and comprises 74,000 square feet of space. It is designated as a Historic Landmark by the City of Pasadena, along with the convent and chapel building that was completed in 1947.

Five wings and annexes added over the past 56 years have increased the size of the hospital complex by another 70,000 square feet. A separate two-story medical office building with 29,504 rentable square feet was built in 1984 and is currently fully occupied.

During the past four years, two research groups from Caltech moved onto the property, and the medical office building on the site continued its operation. The Institute also rented out the hospital building, a well-known Art Deco structure built in 1933, for filming purposes.

However, the distance from the campus and the cost of renovation has not made the St. Luke site an attractive location for campus activities. Caltech will use the proceeds from the sale of the property to further its research and educational mission.

Marc Renard and Carl Muhlstein of Cushman & Wakefield represented Caltech in the transaction.

"Situated in one of the most recognizable and prestigious cities in the nation, this site represented an extraordinary assemblage of land that generated interest from investors around the world," said Renard, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield's Southern California Capital Markets Group.

DS Ventures develops residential, office and retail space. It has been involved in several condominium projects in the Los Angeles area.