Cal Poly Pomona names team to overhaul 300-acre Lanterman site

The former Lanterman Developmental Center near Cal Poly Pomona may be transformed into a mixed-use project with housing, retail and working spaces under a pending agreement between the university and two developers.

Last month, the university announced it entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Edgewood Realty Partners and Greystar as co-developers of the 300-acre site that sits on the western edge of Pomona, near the 57 Freeway.

While plans for the site haven’t been finalized, an “innovation district” where startup companies could live, work and play is one concept for the former state hospital, said assistant professor Anthony Orlando, a member of the advisory committee for the project. Students would reap the benefits of the neighboring hub, with the potential for internships and hands-on learning opportunities, he said.

“This all really fits with the polytechnic education, giving hands-on learning to engineering students and architecture students and so on,” Orlando said on Tuesday.

While the site would not be part of the campus, housing would be developed and available for university staff and faculty and students at price points that are affordable, Orlando said.

The Lanterman site, which opened in 1927 as the Pacific Colony, a state-run hospital, was later transitioned into a home for people with serious developmental disabilities. It operated as such for more than 80 years before closing at the end of 2014. The following year, the site was transferred from the state to Cal Poly Pomona, which has since been searching for a developer to transform the property.

The site has over 100 old buildings, some of which can be preserved and some of which cannot, Orlando said. Redevelopment plans are expected to include the reuse of historic structures — some are more than 90 years old — as well as new construction.

“Our interest in the Lanterman site is straight-forward,” Managing Partner of Edgewood, Pete Kutzer, said in a statement. “The opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the future success of California’s students pursuing a polytechnic education — and therefore the future of California itself — is irresistible. To do so on a site with such historic significance, and with a tradition of agricultural innovation as well as raw, natural beauty, is perhaps unprecedented. Our team is honored to be selected.”

Both Edgewood Realty Partners and Greystar have previously worked with the California State University system and have completed adaptive reuse projects in Southern California. The co-developers would rent the Lanterman land from the university for a number of years to be determined in the agreement, according to Orlando.

“Cal Poly Pomona will earn revenue without putting up any of their own capital at risk. The developer will be in charge of doing all of the construction and fixing all of the infrastructure,” Orlando said. “But everything that they do on the site, they will have to run past the state and past Cal Poly Pomona.”

In an August statement, the university indicated that stakeholder meetings, development plan and guidelines for the Lanterman project are expected to be completed by March 2023. Shortly after, an environmental study will be completed and transaction documents will be prepared. These items will then be submitted to the CSU Board of Trustees for approval by June 2024.

“The university will seek input from the community as we re-imagine the Lanterman property’s transformation into a vital contributor to the university and the region and will continue to provide updates along the way,” a university statement read.

Additionally, the city of Pomona has provided input, including a selected representative on the project’s Advisory Committee. The cities of Diamond Bar and Walnut also have been consulted as part of the early planning process, Orlando said.

The site’s potential brings an opportunity like no other for students and the surrounding communities, Orlando said. While a set timeline for the project may take a few more years, he’s confident that the end-result will be worth the wait.

“This is a once-in-a-generation kind of site. This kind of site doesn’t come available on prime land in Southern California,” Orlando said. “I don’t see sites like this that can be so transformative for a region. So I’m really excited to see what the next 20 or 30 years will bring here.”