By Mary O’KEEFE

At the regular monthly meeting of the Montrose Shopping Park Association (MSPA), the board was asked to vote on its annual budget that will be presented to the City of Glendale. 

“What we [are] presenting to the city council is a budget format that takes a look at what we did this year and what it would cost to do it again next year,” explained Dale Dawson, MSPA business administrator. 

He added the MSPA board has a discretionary fund it can use for additional projects. One project would be the seasonal lighting, which covers all of the trees in town as well as other lighting. There was a need for more funding this year because of additional lighting purchases. 

Another project would involve replacing the eight aging directory boards throughout the Montrose Shopping Park. Digital directories were explored and would cost about $3,000 each. The budget included the $20,000-plus for these boards; however, the MSPA board of directors felt this estimate appeared to be low. 

The board is also exploring the installation of digital kiosks that would be used in conjunction with possible parking meter kiosks. This would add a pay station that would also act as a digital directory. 

Treasurer Maureen Palacios added she wanted this option to maximize space, and that is why she felt the $20,000 price tag was too low. 

After a discussion the board voted to increase this project’s budget to $50,000. Meetings between the MSPA board and City representatives are traditionally held in January. 

The main focus of the meeting, though, was a presentation by representatives of the Glendale Community College (GCC). 

Prior to introducing the GCC representatives, MSPA President Andre Ordubegian praised the college for partnering with the shopping park including opening its parking lot for local events like the Sunday Harvest Market. 

“You’ve been a great partner for MSPA and we hope that will continue,” he said. 

GCC has an active satellite campus, GCC Professional Development Center (PDC), located at 2340 Honolulu Ave. in Montrose. 

GCC board member Desirée Portillo Rabinov took the podium first. She represents District 1, which covers the Crescenta Valley area. She thanked the MSPA board for working in partnership with PDC and is “very excited to see what next will be offered to the community.” 

Rabinov stated there will be changes coming to the campuses of GCC including to PDC. The first phase of the remodeling/construction – Phase 1 – is the Performing Arts and Convention Center in Glendale.

“That’s going to be exciting because we’ll have space available for all of you who would like to have some meetings with us or have an activity that you would like to host. We’ll be able to do that on our campus,” she said. “We’ll also be working on our second phase, which is the Montrose campus, as well. That will be a little bit of a process because we do have to go through the state and get approvals for any design construction we will do, the same as we do on all of our campuses.”

GCC’s Superintendent/President Dr. Ryan Cornner shared a PowerPoint presentation of the proposed expansion of the Montrose campus.

GCC purchased the former Citibank building at 2350 Honolulu Ave. to extend its campus outreach into Montrose. Cornner said it was “a thorn in his side” to have a sign on the former bank that for many years states “Coming Soon.” 

“But certainly years was not what was intended,” he said. “We really wanted to make sure that we had a project that fit with the community.”

He said GCC wanted the Montrose location to be more than just an educational center because that format may serve the students but it does not serve the community. 

“And so we really wanted to see what we could do that would look at having a planned partnership with some other community entities, looking at program demand and at a program development that really met what the community needed,” he said. “We [prepare] students [for] high-paying, career-driven jobs and [create] a need that could definitely be served by those students.”

He added that PDC and the former Citibank property is referred to as the Montrose Campus. The locations have parking on the sides of the buildings and in the back.

He added there currently are no plans to build a building in-between or on the  parking lots.

“Looking at [the project] we definitely wanted to understand that we’re in a residential neighborhood with commercial properties nearby,” he said.

He stated that those who attend the Montrose Campus can bring people to local businesses, including going to restaurants. 

Cornner said several aspects of the community were looked into including the aging demographics of the area. 

“Eighteen percent of the residents in the City of Glendale are over 65. It’s very similar in the surrounding communities [of] La Crescenta/Montrose and La Cañada Flintridge. And that [percentage] is expected to actually grow as we go through the years,” he said. 

With that demographic in mind GCC decided to look at providing physical and occupational therapy (PT). He added that the closest PT in the MSP area is at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.

“What is it right next to?” he asked. “The ER [emergency room].”

He related an experience of when he went to PT at the hospital he had to pass through the ER to get to his treatment, which he was not comfortable with for a variety of reasons. This prompted him to develop a concept of having physical and occupational therapy classes where students can work with community members who need therapy. According to Cornner, having a teaching facility and a practical institution is unusual and, in fact, there are very few in LA County and none close to the Montrose community. 

A student who would take this program would be paying considerably less than a student who is taking a PT course in a larger university. 

“There are no programs and that is insane – especially when you consider that the most prominent program in L.A. County is charging $50,000 a semester. Our rate is about $1,800 a year. So for less than $4,000, people can complete our occupational therapy assistant program for what may cost $200,000 at a private [institution],” Cornner said. 

He also said this program would help students obtain a high-paying career.  The program at the Montrose campus would provide about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet of patient care. 

The project would create a new building for the Montrose campus that will allow students to do physical and occupational therapy with real patients through a type of internship working with those certified in PT. 

Cornner said GCC is looking to work closely with an architect who will understand the needs of the community. He also plans on reaching out and working with community members on the design of the building/s. Permits from the City of Glendale would not be necessary; however, permits from the State of California would be needed due to the designation of the site as a college. 

If all goes well Cornner stated that groundbreaking will occur sometime in 2028; however, that may be an optimistic estimate since there were a lot of questions and concerns from the audience, including from members of the MSPA board. There was confusion as to what role USC-VHH would play in the process, the design of the building/s and construction disruption to the shopping park.