skip to main content
Caltech
Home  /  Campus Life & Events  /  Campus Announcements  /  Update on Caltech's Innovation Center Project

Update on Caltech's Innovation Center Project

February 27, 2026
Office of Communications and External Relations

Caltech is partnering to build a new innovation center two blocks from our campus and a block from Pasadena City College, on a Caltech-owned parking lot at 1364 E. Green Street. The center will help science-based start-up companies grow alongside larger, established Caltech partner companies, ensuring that important technologies and treatments are invented and brought to market in Pasadena. 

The proposed project, which passed the concept design phase with the City of Pasadena's Design Commission in late January, is scheduled to go before City Council this coming Monday at 6 p.m. The project has been appealed by a community group and newly formed organization, Building a Better Pasadena.

The group has expressed opposition on building safety and the environmental impact of construction and long-term operation, with a particular focus on the potential impact to the adjacent school.

Institute leaders and Trammell Crow representatives have sought over the last year to engage with the community and the project neighbors, and has offered to exceed building standards and regulations to mitigate noise, vibrations, and other potential disruptions during construction. The Institute believes this is an important project for supporting Caltech's innovation ecosystem, and that it will bring enormous economic benefit and value to the greater Pasadena community. 

The project is zoned for this type of construction. When the property was rezoned as part of the City's East Colorado Specific Plan the city approved an addendum to the Pasadena General Plan Environment Impact Report, which was prepared in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act. Consistent with that plan, the city has independently completed traffic, air, and environment studies on the proposed project to ensure that it is in alignment with the city's plan.

Here are some resources and information on the project: