Irvine Company Trades Pasadena Office for 32% Discount

Southern California’s largest owner of multifamily units is trading off many of its office assets across the region, and one of the state’s fastest-growing banks is stepping up to take advantage in Pasadena. 

Donald Bren’s Irvine Company traded a 270,000-square-foot property in Pasadena, dubbed Western Asset Plaza, to East West Bank for $97.9 million, PropertyShark records show. The deal for the five-story property at 385 East Colorado Boulevard amounts to roughly $360 per square foot. CoStar first reported the news. 

Bren’s firm appears eager to sell off certain office assets. The Irvine Company purchased the property in 2012 from Centurion Real Estate Partners for $144.5 million, records show, and its latest assessed value is more than $167.5 million. 

Western Asset Management occupies the majority of the property, though it wasn’t immediately clear if the company would remain for the foreseeable future or vacate to make way for East West Bank. The tenant renewed its 184,500-square-foot lease in early 2023, and the building was 90 percent occupied at the time. Other current tenants there include L&B Law Group, Norton Simon Foundation and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Representatives for Irvine Company and for East West Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Irvine Company owns approximately 65,000 apartment units, primarily in Orange County, and is in the process of doubling down on its multifamily business. The firm is actively developing thousands of new units, including office-to-residential conversions at its Irvine Business Complex and Newport Center. 

Yet it’s simultaneously trading off certain office properties. In October, Irvine sold its final, 34-story office tower in Downtown San Diego to Saca Development for $120 million, or less than half of the $300 million it paid for it in the early 2000s. Still, its 34-story complex at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in L.A.’s Century City, for which it has no known plans to sell, is one of the highest-performing office towers in the region. 

Other Pasadena office properties have also traded at big discounts in the past 12 months. Last August, Harbor Associates and Roxborough Group paid $120 million for Pasadena Towers, a two-building, roughly 477,000-square-foot campus previously owned by CBRE Investment Management. The JV’s price was less than half of the $256 million that CBRE paid for the towers in 2016. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.