Fuller Seminary Announces Sale of Pasadena Property

Fuller Theological Seminary has sold a multifamily property once used as housing to an undisclosed buyer.

The three-story, 69-unit property at 700 Locust St. was sold for $19.3 million.

The 33-year-old property’s original 51-unit floor plan was reworked without a permit in the 1990s to add 18 additional units, according to loopnet.com. Loopnet, is owned by the CoStar Group, a real estate marketing site.

Fuller used the building to receive visiting scholars and VIPs.

“As a local resident, the buyer is familiar with Pasadena’s need for family and residential options and is eager to utilize this space to provide more available housing,” said Britt Vaughan, director of communications at Fuller Seminary. Vaughan declined to identify the buyer.

“Like all developers in Pasadena, the buyer will be working with the city on different unit price points that address the diverse needs of potential tenants,” Vaughan said.
Under the Fuller Master Plan, all property owned by Fuller must remain affordable housing if it is sold and redeveloped.

The college is currently working with the city to amend the plan.

The Fuller Theological Seminary Master Plan — passed in 2006 — envisioned several substantial construction projects and an increase in graduate student enrollment at the school’s Pasadena campus.

Under the plan, Fuller agreed that if it constructed additional housing in excess of its then existing stock, those “net new” units would be covenanted as affordable housing for Fuller students, faculty, and staff.

But as a result of a variety of factors — a major economic recession in 2008, the high cost of living in the Los Angeles area, the increased use of online learning in the graduate programs, a declining in interest in seminary education, limits on immigration, and now, the pandemic — Fuller’s residential student enrollment requiring housing in Pasadena has plummeted.

Due to reduced demand, Fuller did not build additional housing units that would have qualified as affordable housing. That, coupled with the need to address institutional debt and the pandemic, forced the seminary to sell property in order to situate the institution for greater sustainability and to better serve student needs.

“Fuller is concerned about affordable housing needs in Pasadena and is committed to working with the county, the city, local organizations, and advocacy groups to develop opportunities that address equitable access to housing. We look forward to determining what role Fuller can play in helping devise an equitable proposal that will be supportive of the community as well as Fuller’s vision for its future.” Vaughan said.