Retail Buyer Plans Mixed-Use Expansion

PASADENA, CA-The new owner of a retail property at Green Street and Fair Oaks Avenue plans to develop 20,000 sf of mixed-use office and retail space on the site, according to NAI Capital. Luis Valenzuela of the Commerce office of NAI reports that the buyer, 3171 Fair Oaks LLC, will develop the new space on a portion of the parcel that now serves as a parking lot.Valenzuela, who represented seller Eastwood Associates Inc. in its deal with the buyer, says that the transaction gives 3171 Fair Oaks LLC one of the last remaining parcels available for development in Old Town Pasadena. The property, which includes more than 21,000 sf of existing retail space on a parcel of nearly 42,000 sf, sold for $15.6 million.The acquisition financing for the deal included a $12-million loan arranged by Edward Kim of Amherst Real Estate Capital. The financing is a three-year fixed-rate loan with no prepayment penalty."The key to the acquisition was to capitalize on the existing parking lot by developing a mixed-use property," Kim says. He notes that the property's location is a half block south of the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue, the heart of Old Town Pasadena.Pasadena was home to some of the first mixed-use projects in the Los Angeles area when they began springing up a few years ago, including mixed-use retail and residential as well as office combined with retail and residential combined with office. Among the largest and most recent of these is Shea Properties' $70-million mixed-use Trio apartment and retail complex, which occupies a full block on 3.4 acres in Pasadena's Playhouse District.