LA Office Portfolio Trades for $80M

2 N. Lake Ave. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

A three-building office portfolio totaling 242,012 square feet in downtown Pasadena, Calif., has changed hands for $80 million. A Los Angeles-based private investor acquired the asset known as 2 N Lake from 2 North Lake JV LLC, an entity affiliated with Singpoli, according to CommercialEdge.

READ ALSO: Los Angeles Market Update: Deal Volume Slowly Grows M-o-M

The portfolio last traded in 2009, when Singpoli purchased it for $51.9 million. Cushman & Wakefield assisted the seller in the current deal, while the buyer was unrepresented.

Situated in Pasadena’s central business district, the portfolio comprises an 11-story, 216,072-square-foot building at 2 N. Lake Ave., a three-story, 27,571-square-foot asset dubbed The Lieberg Building at 911 E Colorado Blvd. and a one-story building at 902 Boston Court, as well as a six-story parking garage.

Completed in 1985, the Lake Avenue building features a penthouse floor with high ceilings and a large exterior private patio, as well as a rooftop helipad. Cushman & Wakefield’s Mike Condon said, in a prepared statement, that the asset was the only office building in Pasadena to feature numerous outdoor decks and smaller private balconies. The Lieberg Building is an adaptive reuse project, initially completed in 1926 as a retail facility and converted to office space in 1985, CommercialEdge data shows.

Condon also stated that the building at 2 N Lake Ave. was one of the few remaining value-add opportunities in one of Los Angeles’ strongest submarkets. The buyer intends to implement an extensive repositioning plan on the property, that will include lobby renovations and the activation of outdoor areas, plus other interior and exterior upgrades.

Located just south of Interstate 210 and within walking distance of the Metro Gold Line, the portfolio was 63 percent leased at the time of sale to a diverse mix of tenants. Cushman & Wakefield’s Shaun Stiles, Steven Marcussen and Katie Cowan will handle all leasing assignments going forward.

The capital markets team led by Condon, together with Erica Finck, Bailey Dawson and Marc Renard, represented the seller in the disposition.

One of Tri-Cities’ stronger submarkets

According to Stiles, Pasadena is the Tri-Cities’ largest and most diverse submarket, having witnessed great in-migration within the last few years. In one of the second quarter’s largest leases in Greater Los Angeles, biopharmaceutical company Xencor Inc. signed a contract for approximately 148,000 square feet at 465 North Halstead, a 240,904-square-foot office building located less than 1 mile west of 2 N. Lake Ave.

The property at 465 N. Halstead St., also known as Pasadena Business Center, was also subject to one of the largest single-asset sales that has closed in Pasadena since the beginning of the year. LPC West, the West Coast arm of Lincoln Property Co., partnered with Angelo Gordon for the $72.5 million purchase.