Pasadena - The historic Braley Building, which started life as a bicycle store in 1906, opened its doors Monday as the new $22-million Church of Scientology Pasadena.
The imposing four-story, 50,800-square-foot building at 35 S. Raymond Ave. will serve around 10,000 Scientologists from the San Gabriel Valley to the Inland Empire, said Eden Stein, president of the Pasadena Church.
"We're very pleased," Stein said Monday, a day after about 4,200 Scientologists celebrated at a street party on Raymond attended by church leader David Miscavige.
"We'll be shopping here, eating in restaurants," she said. "We're looking forward to doing our share in contributing to the economic vitality of Old Pasadena - I know we can do that."
It's been four years since about 1,500 church members bought the Braley Building and either bought out or evicted 22 small businesses prior to the renovation.
But work didn't start in earnest until January and the church frequently fended off complaints from city, Pasadena Heritage and Old Pasadena Management District officials unhappy with the slow progress, and the building's increasingly dilapidated appearance.
"It has been a long haul," said Steve Mulheim, the management district's president. "We're awfully happy to see the building reopen ... and see it brought up to snuff and come alive again as opposed to sitting empty."
As promised, the church interior redesign has been given a distinctive Pasadena Craftsman look, everything from the exterior Arts & Crafts-style signage to the stained glass, lighting fixtures, decorative roses, plus historic photos lining the stairwells.
The building interior was "completely rebuilt" in the 1970s, so there was no historic fabric to preserve, historic architect Peyton Hall said.
But since Pasadena Heritage has an easement on the building's historic facade, Hall said, he was hired as a consultant to project architects M. Arthur Gensler Jr. and Associates.
With the district's strict signage and facade regulations, the outside hasn't changed much in many years, he said. "But the windows received some good repair work - they're original to the building."
Overall, Hall said, he likes how it looks.
"In part because it still has its historic blemishes," he said. "The building doesn't look brand new, it still looks like the old Braley Building."
Visitors walking into the ground floor, which is open to the public, will find the same soaring atrium, the walkways and even the old wall clocks at each end.
But the rest of the building has been converted to provide facilities for the expected 200 to 300 daily church members and 173 staff.
Off the Raymond Avenue entry is a public information center, with 17 multimedia displays introducing the beliefs of Scientology. The area will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
"People can look around and have a self-guided video tour," said spokesman Tommy Davis.
There's a library, bookshop selling the works of founder L. Ron Hubbard, a cafe and chapel, with counselling and seminar rooms, and the "purification room" saunas on other floors.
Stein said there would be "lots of open houses" to introduce the community to the new church space and let them become part of the neighborhood.
Not all the neighbors agreed a church was a good fit in the heart of the city's premier retail and dining district, Mulheim said.
"It's a little bit of an unknown," he said. "But that's kind of what Old Pasadena is built on - stepping out and taking some unusual chances ... The church has communicated that they want to be good neighbors. We will stay aware, and time will tell how it all works out."
