Heitman Puts Pasadena Office Campus On Market

A lender is shopping a Pasadena office campus about three years after taking the keys back, according to marketing materials reviewed by The Real Deal.

The real estate on 251 South Lake Avenue called Pasarroyo was owned by Coretrust Capital Partners — but control of the four-building, 650,000-square-foot campus reverted to the lender, Heitman, after a failed public auction.

The opening offer in December 2023 was $114 million, TRD previously reported. That was less than what Coretrust Capital purchased the campus for in 2018, not to mention the $50 million it later spent on renovations — and the around $270 million the company owed.

Coretrust Capital had an issue refinancing the property. Managing principal John Sischo in late 2023 said: “The capital markets are not in existence to take out a refinance for an office building, no matter how great the property is,” he told Bisnow.

JLL has the listing for the largest office campus in Pasadena that spans an entire six-acre city block. The Pasarroyo is 88 percent occupied and commands premium rents, per the offering memorandum. Tenants include JP Morgan, Charles Schwab and more recently, Wedbush Securities, which left its downtown Los Angeles space. Now that office tower is in trouble.

There is no mention of an asking price in the marketing materials. Pasadena’s South Lake Avenue district is separate from its downtown, but some recent trades in the general vicinity may shed some light on pricing.

Irvine Company sold an office building on East Colorado Boulevard for about $360 per square foot, or $98 million — a steep decline from its $144 million prior purchase price. Harbor Associates and Roxborough Group purchased an office complex on the corner of South Lake Avenue and East Colorado Boulevard for $120 million, and that deal worked out to about $252 per square foot.

If the lender were to recoup the more than $270 million it’s owed, the sale would need to come out to about $420 per square foot.

Neither Heitman nor JLL immediately responded to a request for comment.