Rockpoint makes another LA acquisition — this time in Pasadena

Hot on the heels of acquiring a Miracle Mile office trophy from Blackstone Group, Rockpoint Group closed on a deal for the AT&T Building in Pasadena for $161.5 million.

The Boston-based private equity firm paid roughly $540 per square foot to the seller, Saunders Property Group, Real Capital Analytics data show. The property is located at 177 East Colorado Boulevard.

Rockpoint declined to comment.

Saunders bought the roughly 300,000-square-foot building in 2014 for $81.5 million, or roughly $270 per square foot. The firm completed a $24 million renovation of the property, transforming tenant spaces and “a lobby that looked like it belonged to a telephone company” to a modern office would attract the likes of WeWork, said John Saunders, head of the company, who has owned several buildings in the Pasadena area.

“Our business plan was to take the building, remodel it, and sell it when we had the building filled up,” he said. “It would be nice if the Chinese were still in the market and paying better prices but we still got a good price and Rockpoint got a great building.”

Eastdil been shopping the building around since last October. Representatives for the brokerage could not be reached.

The building, anchored by AT&T, is 88 percent occupied, RCA shows. Other major tenants include WeWork, Primecap Odyssey Funds and iRobot.

There was no official asking price, but previous reports estimated it would sell for a much lower $128 million.

Rockpoint’s West Coast acquisitions team, led by Aric Shalev, has been on a bit of a tear in L.A. In addition to acquiring Blackstone’s office at 5670 Wilshire Boulevard, the firm recently picked up a 460-key Westin Hotel in Long Beach for roughly $85 million. As of March, it also owned 16 multifamily properties in the L.A. area, concentrated in the San Fernando Valley.