Sold at an Estimated $8 Mil below Replacement Cost. - Why I Like this Building
A 2015-built - 50-unit in Old Town Pasadena clears at $440K/door and $364/SF. - This was a great Acquisition for the Buyer.
At a glance
closed July 10, 2026
unit mix not published
per door
60,450 gross SF
wood-frame construction
0.43 acres
What matters
- The trade.$22M. 50 units. $440K/door. $364/SF. 60,450 gross SF on a 18,644 SF lot. Wood-frame, 2015 vintage, Old Town Pasadena. $364 is low. I think it would cost me over $30M to build this building, even up to $35 Million. Average units are over 1200 Square Feet. The buyer got a great deal and unfortunately the seller was forced to sell.
- Another Sale with the Tony Azzi Team. No cap rate, no T-12, no GRM was published with this comp. At $440K/door on a 2015 wood-frame. The Cost per door is very good for these big units. I asked for more info and couldn't get that rent roll. My guess is that the property was being sold and they left vacancies for the new owners to reposition the property.
- The regulatory picture.2015 build date puts this squarely outside LARSO and AB 1482 (Pasadena has its own rent rules, and a post-2015 building in Pasadena is generally exempt).
- No ULA exposure. No ULA in Pasadena. ULA is crushing everyone so Pasadena looks like a good place to hide from it.
Deal stats
The Location
119 Los Robles Ave sits inside the Old Town Pasadena submarket, one of the few genuine walk-to-everything corridors in the San Gabriel Valley. Colorado Boulevard retail, Gold Line access at Del Mar and Memorial Park stations, and a dense restaurant-and-entertainment core are all within a short walk. Old Town commands a meaningful rent premium over the balance of Pasadena, and that premium has proven durable through multiple cycles. The neighborhood draws young professionals and empty-nesters who want urban walkability without paying Westside prices. For a 2015, - 50-unit building, the location looks Great!
The Setup
One building, 50 units, 60,450 gross SF, wood-frame construction completed in 2015. Average implied unit size is 1,209 SF, which for Pasadena reads as a mix of larger one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms rather than a micro-unit play.
What an Operator Sees
At $440,000 per unit and $364/SF, the buyer is getting a 2015-built Pasadena asset for roughly $8 million below estimated replacement cost. It could even be $15 Million below replacement cost.
There is no construction risk, no three-year development timeline and the property starts producing income immediately. The larger 1,209-SF average unit size would also be difficult and expensive to reproduce today. This is going to be great for this new owner and they will have long term tenants that are not constantly turning over units.
If the buyer can lease those units, improve operations and grow the income, this looks like a strong basis for newer construction in one of Pasadena’s most walkable neighborhoods and at only $22 Million. Great job to the buyer for stepping in.
I’m not a broker or syndicator. I’m an operator looking for deal flow and sharing insights with other owners. I like this property A lot. I would be interested in buying something like this.
Send OMs to David@AtlasBrief.LA
I research these transactions to sharpen my own investment strategy and share what I find so Los Angeles owners, brokers and investors can debate the market with better information.
Know one other LA owner who'd want this deal? Forward this — reply with their email and I'll add them.
Property and transaction data: CoStar Research.
Write to David Safai at David@AtlasBrief.La
Appeared in the Sept. 6, 2026 edition of The Tape.