Remaking Arcadia

http://www.latimes.com/entrtainment/arts/la-et-cm-arcadia-immigration-architecture-20140511-story,html#page=1

Arcadia, California
acclaimedmovers.com

Hello Everyone:

Yesterday we toured Koreatown, in the mid-Wilshire area, looking at how the Korean and Korean-American community has reshaped this part of Los Angeles; becoming a glimpse into the future.  Today we move from the mid-Wilshire area to the bucolic suburbs of Arcadia, California. Once again, our guide will be Christopher Hawthorne and the second of his recent three articles for the Los Angeles Times titled "How Arcadia Is Remaking Itself As A Magnet For Chinese Money."  The article is discussion on how Chinese and Chinese-Americans are reshaping this affluent San Gabriel Valley suburb.

Map of the San Gabriel Valley
city-data.com

Let us begin with a look at two rival architects: Philip Chan who runs the Arcadia-based firm PDS Studio and Robert Tong, the founder of Sanyao International.  Both are prolific designers and their rivalry is an integral part of the construction boom that is radically remaking the city. Once sleepy blocks, dotted with single-story forties-era ranch houses set back from the street are now lined with bloated McMansions pushed all the way to the front of the lot, screaming "look at me."  Messrs. Chan and Tong's name are prominent features in San Gabriel Valley real estate listings and their splashy Mediterranean-esque houses are built to appeal specifically to wealthy Chinese clientele who are looking to establish a pied-a-terre in the United States and enroll their children in American schools.  Mr, Hawthorne writes, "In the last year alone, more than 90 houses have sold for more than $2.5 million in Arcadia, a city of 56,000 that sits just east of Pasadena at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains."

First Cabin Cocktail Bar
Arcadia, California
city-data.com

While Mr. Hawthorne did not specify whether he was referring to new home or existing home prices when he cites, "Prices in Arcadia are more than 39% from their peak in 2007 before the housing downturn.  The city, now 60% Asian, has become more expensive than Calabasas...It's become known as the 'Chinese Beverly Hills.'"  However, what is happening in Arcadia is less about new homes and mind-boggling sales figures than how new immigration patterns are remaking the architecture of Southern California.  The Chinese community are not victims of change, like those who were displaced when Chinatown was razed in the thirties to make way for Union Station.  This time, they are the ones driving the economic engine.  The architectural landscape has become an attraction for their money.

Wayne's Sporting Supply
Arcadia, California
city-data.com

Christopher Hawthorne observes, "When you drive around Arcadia, the vast amount of residential construction suggests an architectural free-for-all..."  The dust from work crews, chain-link fences covered with green mesh fabric sporting advertisements for home theater specialists or signs offering to buy land or old homes, all signifiers of a new house going up.  Really, the flurry of activity evokes a careful strategy, based on feng shui and basic real estate math.  The ideal site occupies a specific location that developers know will appeal their Chinese clients: in the middle of the block, facing south; corner lots are less valuable.  Many of the prospective buyers prefer a circular driveway in front, thus requiring a 75-foot wide lot.

Santa Anita Park
Arcadia, California
panoramio.com

The offices of Philip Chan are not too above the construction fray, in a modest stucco building a short distance from historic Santa Anita Park.  Mr. Chan's parents who immigrated from Hong Kong, own Sunny Construction and Development, a prolific builder in the area.  A typical Philip Chan-designed home features wine cellars, home theaters, and double-height entry halls lined in marble.  The majority have elevators (?) or three separate master bedroom suits, in order to accommodate live-in relatives or visitors.  Almost all the homes have a second "wok kitchen" next to the main showplace kitchen.  Mr. Chan says, "Some of the Asian cooking requires a lot of BTUs for the burner. and it gets oily and messy, so that's a must have."  Other details one can expect to see in a typical house this grand are: lots of fireplaces and a lushly landscaped back garden are not part of the plan.  Chinese buyers do not have a great deal of interest in these features.

Philip Chan inside one of his homes
Photograph by Rick Loomis
latimes.com

One of Mr. Chan's homes, designed in the Spanish mode with a red-tile roof, was recently on the market for $2.5 million.  It faced west on a somewhat busy north-south street, making it less appealing to buyers.  When queried by Mr. Hawthorne about what percentage of buyers are Asian, Mr. Chan gleefully replied "I would say 100%..."

Much of Arcadia, including the wealthier enclave north of the Foothill Freeway, is dictated by homeowner's association stringent design review standards.  Complicating new home construction are the winding streets and protected oak trees in Northern Arcadia.  This has pushed construction south toward the relatively tree-free flats below Huntington Drive.

Home on 68 West Wisteria Avenue
Arcadia, California
Robert Tong
smithhomedev.com

Many of the most expensive home on those streets were designed by Robert Tong, who immigrated to the United States at the age of 28, from the Sichuan province.  As an architect working in China, Mr. Tong worked on commercial projects. He now heads a three-person office.  Although he is not a licensed architect, Mr. Tong advertises himself as an architectural designer.  In 2011, a 2,200-square-foot house was bought for $1.6 million and demolished.  In its place Mr. Tong designed an ornate Italianate, six-bedroom, nine bath, 11,945-square-foot house.  Wow, that is a lot of house.

This south facing McMansion with its circular drive, wok kitchen, and ten seat 3-D home theater ticked off every box on a prospective Chinese buyer's wish list.  Last year this "palace" sold for $5.5 million and recently went back on the market for $7.8 million.  A mere block away, also on a south facing lot, an 11,000 square-foot "cottage" with seven bedrooms is for sale for a "bargain" $6.7 million.  Blogger's mind is reeling from all this buying, building, selling frenzy.

Residence on 548 Gloria Road
Arcadia, California
movoto.com

 
Why are south facing lots important to prospective buyers?  Mr. Tong explains, "A long time ago in China there was no air conditioning, no electricity...Everything natural-natural light, natural ventilation.  So over the generations people got used to that.  And facing south you have the best light and the best air flow."  Further, "Any new home on the market facing south, if we're talking about same quality, same design, it will definitely sell quicker and for more money."

Arcadia's construction boom goes back to soaring prices and the volatility in the Chinese real estate market.  Wealthy immigrants are eligible for the EB-5 visas, issued by the American government, if they invest at $500,000 in an American business; "the vast majority of those visas-85%, by some accounts-now go to Chinese applicants."  For EB-5 visa holders, Arcadia is a bargain in comparison to prices in Shanghai or Beijing that can approach $2,000 per square-foot versus $650 per square-foot in southern Arcadia.  "If they sell their apartment in Beijing, they can buy a house here," said Stone Liu, editor of China Press, an Alhambra, California based Chinese community newspaper.

Shopping on Huntington Drive
ci.arcadia.ca.us

In Arcadia, the houses are billboards for the newcomers' wealth.  According to Mr. Liu, "In San Marino many of the biggest houses are hidden behind trees and fences...The wealthiest Chinese buyers want to be seen."  This ostentatious mindset is an anathema blogger's more modest sensibilities. However, regulating these displays of wealth has meant striking a balance between supporting new building and maintaining the character defining features of the residential streets.  In 2006, the city established a design review process that asks developers, for the sake of design coherence, to select "a single architecture style as a starting point in the design process."  Regardless, developers are not required to appear before citizen commission as they are in other cities.  Once builders figure out how to make their way through the process, they they can turn out house after house.  "Our city is very much supportive of private property rights." says Jason Krunkenberg, assistant city manager for Arcadia.

Downtown Arcadia
arcadiachamber.org

Christopher Hawthorne criticizes the architecture of the houses as "...a pastiche of European, American, and Chinese styles, fountains gurgling endlessly out front, are wildly out of scale with the older residential fabric.  Overwhelming their modest lots, they resemble the so-called Persian Palaces wealthy Iranian immigrants have built 20 miles west in Beverly Hills."  However, dismissing the houses as eyesores would miss the larger subject of immigration and architecture in Southern California in the age of globalization.

Westfield Mall food court entrance
ci.arcadia.ca.us

The houses designed by Messrs, Chan and Tong signify a "triple echo."  First, European styles were copied throughout American suburbia resulting in McMansions.  These styles began showing up in Chinese subdivisions, many designed and built by American firms.  One example that comes to mind is the North Beijing gated community of "Orange County."  Now, similar designed houses are popping up in pockets of wealthy Chinese communities.  The architecture is reassuring to prospective buyers because it suggests suburban plenty.  It is also a reminder of the freshly built and highly sought after residential work on the fringes of Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

Mr. Hawthorne likened the McMansions of Arcadia with the late Chinese premier Deng Xiaoping's experiment mixing communism with capitalism, "socialism with Chinese characteristics."  McMansions with Chinese characteristics.  The high asking prices produced by the almost-perfect balance of post-immigrant Southern California, amid an increasing flow of money from China and the established Chinese American community.  Robert Tong and Philip Chan know exactly what new Chinese millionaires want in an American house.  At the same time, they are both firmly established within the San Gabriel Valley to forge a close relationship with contractors, building inspectors, and real estate agents, most of whom are not Chinese.  The new houses with their high ceiling and filigreed exteriors-products of an eclectic architectural influence are products of a mix of architectural influence, including those designed by Robert Tong and Philip Chan