College Sells Land for $2.25 Million : Houses Planned on 22-Acre Lot

A consortium of Glendale developers plans to build a secured community of large, high-priced homes on a 22-acre lot that Glendale Community College auctioned off last week.

The developers, the Tensor Group, bid $2.25 million for the hilly property just south of the college. The land covers two ridges between Mountain Street and the Glendale Freeway across from the college’s main campus.

College officials said proceeds from the sale would be used to construct an 800-space parking lot and for other campus development, for which $8 million has been allotted in the 1988-89 budget.

Tensor outlasted two bidders at a half-hour auction to purchase the lot, known as the Palmer property. College officials had set the minimum bid price at $1.5 million.

College officials have studied ways to use the property for two years, said Jean Larson, college vice president of administrative services. But Larson said the lot’s rugged terrain and location across busy Mountain Street made it too expensive to develop. To use the property, the college would have to build an overpass spanning the street to the main campus, Larson said.

The college bought the land from the Glendale school district for $1.1 million in 1982. The college’s board of trustees voted to sell the land in April. In accordance with the state education code, it was first offered for sale to public agencies.

In June, after none of 25 different public agencies had expressed interest in the property, the college offered the land for sale to private developers.

Tensor Group representatives said they plan to build homes in the $500,000 price range on 15,000-square foot lots on the site if granted city approval. The group has developed about 150 condominiums and apartments in Glendale, said Haik Vartanian, group chairman.