Our speaker was Blaine Fetter from the commercial real estate developer Samuelson Fetter.  Today Blaine serves as Principal/Organizer of Boone Fetter, LLC. Blaine has a high profile in the southern California civic and development communities.  He has served as Chairman of the San Gabriel Economic Partnership, and on the executive committee of the L.A. County economic Development Corporation.  Currently his company is developing “The Parks” at Monrovia Station, a $75 million Gold Line Project.  The Iconic bridge construction over the eastbound 210 freeway traffic is receiving final engineering tweaks and construction will follow immediately.  You can visit a rendering a http://arcadiasbest.com/2010/10/210-basket-bridge-coming/ and view for yourself a preview of what you will see each day traveling the eastbound lanes. The project will feature approximately 850,000 square feet of high tech research and development office space as well as 1400-3000 residential units.  The first phase will consist of 300 apartment units and 450,000 square feet of office space along with retail shops.  A 250-room hotel is planned as a later phase along with 140,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Naturally, bus and Gold Line rail stations will be constructed in the initial phase.  The company is trying to develop a workable, sustainable community around the rail station and include parks and park-like settings situated on ground level over a giant parking structure.  The footprint of the project is from Myrtle Avenue south of the 210 freeway east to California and south to Duarte road.  The original site was an 80-acre parcel that has been reduced to a 60-acre site.  The project is scheduled to get under way by July 2011 and take 18-24 months to complete.