Value of Glendale office building dips to $217 psf

An office building in Glendale has sold for about $217 per square foot — a markedly low price point for an office deal in the Tri-Cities area.

Hacienda Associates bought a 126,500-square-foot office building at 225 West Broadway for $27.5 million, according to Kidder Mathews, which brokered the deal on behalf of Hacienda. Three local investors sold the property.

Glendale Financial Square, which was built in 1981 and renovated in 1990, is located directly across the street from Rick Caruso’s Americana at Brand mall, one of the busiest strips of Glendale.

Even with the location, the low price tag suggests the impact of high vacancy rates have had on the value of office properties.

About 22 percent of Glendale Financial Square is currently avaialable for lease, according to online listings for the property. Asking rents at the property are currently $2.85 per square foot per month — lower than the average asking rent of $3.24 per square foot across Glendale in the first quarter.

Across Glendale in the first quarter, around one-fifth of all office space was vacant, compared to 16 percent across the entire Tri-Cities region, according to CBRE.

Similar office deals in Glendale were trading for up to $310 per square foot five years ago, showing just how much the value of office properties have declined since then.

In 2018, Onni Group bought a 212,200-square-foot building in the area for about $260 per square foot. That building was also built in 1981.

A year later, Beacon Capital Partners paid $303 per square foot in 2018 to buy a 544,000-square-foot office tower at 800 North Brand Boulevard — a building that was built in 1990 and hasn’t been renovated since.