21314 Sherman Way, Los Angeles

About this Successful Closing

181, 185 & 187 Monterey Rd | South Pasadena, CA 91030

Transaction Overview

The LAAA Team of Marcus & Millichap is proud to announce the successful closing of this court ordered bankruptcy sale. The listing included three lots combined and offered a developer the chance to build up to 17 high-end condos on a huge 54,969 square-foot lot (1.26 acres) in prime South Pasadena, California.

Deal Story

We listed this property in early July 2020 for $3.3M and immediately received an amazing amount of activity, even during the peak of COVID. Due to the fact that South Pasadena is an excellent location but a very small city, it is extremely rare for a development opportunity to hit the market where the buyer could build condos or apartments. So when we first introduced this to the market, we were flooded with interest and offers. In the first 30 days of our marketing, we received 5 offers, 4 of which were at $3.0M or higher. The seller ended up accepting an offer in August from the developer who just finished building the condo project directly next door to this listing. To be honest, we all thought this was going to turn out to be an easy listing and escrow. The buyer was the perfect profile, proven developer directly next door, and the offer had great terms. Unfortunately, we were very wrong.

Why did this seemingly perfect buyer who just finished a beautiful project next door cancel this escrow? First, an issue we found out during this first escrow which would haunt us for the next 6+ months of marketing is that the South Pasadena planning department is, let's say, not the most efficient government body out there. To compound this inefficiency, the entire staff at South Pasadena planning was turned and there were all brand new employees learning the job. That means the people this developer worked with for 3+...