Pasadena’s Chandler Estate in contract

Developer Huang Kangjing has a buyer for his storied Pasadena home, a century-old English-style manor originally built for newspaper mogul Philip Chandler.

The 8,100-square-foot home is in contract, a month after it was relisted for $12.8 million, according to property records and the listing broker.

Huang, who founded China-based LVGEM Group, bought the property at 1200 South Arroyo Boulevard for his son nearly a decade ago, for $5.8 million. Huang’s son lived there while attending the University of Southern California.

Christian Stillmark and Scott James of Douglas Elliman have the listing. Stillmark said the Stiles O. Clements-designed home should close within the next three weeks in an all-cash deal.

The 3.5-acre home — commonly referred to as the Chandler Estate — first hit the market in early 2017, for $12 million. Huang pulled it about a year later.

It has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms with gardens, a lily pond, a tennis pavilion, carriage house with living quarters, a guest home, pool, and covered parking. Huang also undertook improvements on the home, built in 1915, soon after buying it.

The Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, a charitable organization that raises money through home tours and other events, chose it as the showcase property for 2014.

The Southern California housing market has rebounded since the slowdown brought on by the pandemic, in part because of historically low mortgage rates.

Properties are being sold quickly. In the last week of August, median time to escrow just 12.5 days in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the last week Low inventory is also driving up pricing.

The top end of the market is seeing some price cuts, but plenty of pricey properties continue to sell for top dollar. At least three agents working in L.A. County have closed more than $100 million in sales this year, according to The Real Deal’s ranking of top-producing brokers by on-market deals.