Buyer of $32M Apartments Plans Condos

PASADENA, CA-Orange Grove Circle Communities LLC has acquired a 64-unit apartment complex here for $32 million and plans to convert the units to luxury condominiums, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. The buyer acquired the property, which is at 435 Orange Grove Blvd., from a joint venture of the Los Angeles-based Ratkovich Co. and an institutional partner.

John Crump, an associate director in the Los Angeles office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, notes that the property is built on the former Anheuser Busch Estate in what Crump describes as "an irreplaceable location" in a part of Southwest Pasadena known as "Millionaire's Row." Crump and HFF executive managing director Scott McMullin in Los Angeles teamed with HFF senior managing director Matthew Lawton in Chicago in representing the selling entity. The buyer was advised by ColRich Residential.

Units at the 435 Orange Grove Blvd. complex range from one to four bedrooms, designed as townhomes, that average more than 1,800 sf each. The units feature central air, fireplaces, private yards, patios, deck space and two parking spaces per unit. Community amenities at the 85% occupied property include a swimming pool and walking trails on six landscaped acres.

Crump comments that the large units, patios, balconies and gardens of the property, along with a Pasadena housing market that "has remained steady during the this national housing downturn," make the complex a good candidate for conversion to condos. The 1950's era complex comprises 14 buildings on nearly six acres.

According to a previous report on GlobeSt.com, the Ratkovich Co. and its partner bought the property for $20 million in 2004 and named it the Town Homes at Orange Grove Circle. The buyers described the property as more like single-family homes than traditional apartment units, noting that the complex has its own private drive and is situated amid a park-like setting.