The 2013 Duarte Station Specific Plan for transit oriented development is moving closer to fruition.
The Specific Plan is focused at and around a 19-acre site adjacent to Metro’s Duarte/City of Hope Station. Its stated goal is to boost transit ridership by transforming the station area from “simply a train stop into an exciting multi-use public gathering place.”
What this actually means is that there are mixed-use apartment buildings in the works: 100-120 units of multi-generational affordable housing in the development process, plus 636 luxury housing units with all the trimmings. The latter project is already under construction and more than halfway done.
Alongside all that, there will be some nice pedestrian promenades and paseos connecting these residents to the Metro A Line, just a block away.
The affordable units – called Highland Village – will be built on much of the current station parking lot. Future residents will have to earn between 30 and 60 percent of area median income to live at the building on Fasana Road and Highland Avenue.
Metro awarded the contract for the project to Jamboree Housing in May of 2024. No development schedule has been announced yet.
Immediately across the parking lot, luxury housing developer MBK Rental Living is getting closer to finishing its twin towers: Esperanza and Solana.
These two buildings will be fully stocked with pools, linear parks, clubhouses, game lawns, “foodie lounges,” playgrounds, firepits, courtyards, gyms, and over 1,000 parking spaces in their garages. Reviews of the finished Esperanza building are somewhat mixed.
For all other light rail riders and Duarte locals, the immediate area leading to the Metro station will have widened sidewalks, shade, passenger loading, enhanced bus stops, street furniture, and even outdoor games.
The surrounding land uses here are single-family residences to the north and to the west, City of Hope's medical research campus and the Santa Fe Dam to the South, and a business park to the east.
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