General Motors To Build New 8-Acre Campus In Pasadena

General Motors plans to spend $71 million to build a new design and technology campus in northern Pasadena, the automaker announced Tuesday.

The 149,000-square-foot campus will be dedicated to the automaker's Advanced Design Center operations, GM said in a statement. The center develops transportation concepts that "fall outside the scope of exiting production vehicle programs," and previous ideas include a lunar rover and a Cadillac-branded flying car.

The new campus will be located off of North Rosemead Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue. The relocation brings the automaker closer to the West Coast's technology centers, universities and design schools.

Pasadena officials lauded the decision by GM coming to the city, saying they are "ecstatic" to welcome the automaker.

"Pasadena is central to Southern California’s impressive design and engineering talent pool, so we are very enthusiastic about General Motor’s decision to locate their Advanced Design Center here," Lisa Derderian, the city's spokeswoman, said in a statement.

"Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design continues to produce top-tier transportation designers. With the new location, GM will be in immediate proximity to both Art Center, Caltech and other top technology-based and design firms,"

The new facility is an expansion of a smaller campus in North Hollywood. Operations are expected to relocate to Pasadena in late-2022 when construction is completed, officials said.

“Having a physical presence in Southern California’s technology epicenter is an integral part of our global design operations, and this new innovation campus will not only expand our operations twofold but offers access to the rich cultural diversity and talent in the region,” GM’S Vice President of Global Design Michael Simcoe said in a statement.

“Our positioning will allow us to attract dynamic candidates in fields that will bolster GM’s proven design capabilities and challenge conventional thinking of what our future portfolio of connected products and services can encompass.”

Although the new facility will bring jobs to the area, the automaker did not say how many people will be working at the Pasadena campus.