Atlas Capital Group has started work on the property at 101 S. Marengo Ave., which will include a modern lobby, operable windows that stretch from floor to ceiling, large floor plates, spacious elevators and escalators.
The building will also have a green courtyard, and tenants will have their own filtration centers.
Demand is growing for such amenities, according to Patrick Church, who’s leasing the property with Anneke Greco. Both are with Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
“We’re going to deliver one of the coolest buildings in the Tri-Cities,” Church said.
Previously home to offices for Bank of America, the building was constructed in 1974 and sits on 2.9 acres just one block from a Metro Gold Line stop.
Atlas Capital acquired the 320,000-square-foot property last year for $72 million from Woodbridge Capital Partners and RBZ.
The renovated building will accommodate tenants with spaces ranging from 50,000 to 320,000 square feet. Church said it can be difficult to find such large blocks of space in the area.
Atlas is not looking to divide the floors, but rather hopes to find full-floor or multifloor occupiers.
Church said he has seen interest in large spaces from users outside of the tight Pasadena market.
Another benefit is the fact that the property has multiple ways for people to enter the building and to get around once they’re inside.
Those options include escalators that run all the way from the parking area to the top floor. Church said many potential buyers wanted to tear the escalators out, but Atlas decided to keep them in place.
“In the environment we are going to be living in, those escalators have been well received by potential tenants. I think it is going to be a game changer,” Church said.
The renovation will also include the addition of two oversized passenger elevators.
“The building itself, with the oversized elevator caps we are going to build, people won’t have to wait in line or be crammed into an elevator,” Church said. “We are making it tenant-friendly.”
According to Church, this is the first building in the area to be repositioned since the pandemic began. He said Covid-related concerns were taken into account when it came to design.
And while office leasing across the country slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has picked up in Pasadena, Church said.
“We’ve been busy,” he said. “There are some big tenants in negotiations in that market right now.”
During the first quarter, the vacancy rate in Pasadena was 16.6%, which is below the county average of 17.5%, according to JLL data.
Asking rent for Class A properties in the city was $3.76 a square foot, up 35 cents in two years.
The area has seen some big office sales in the past year.
The three-building Pasadena Corporate Park was purchased by a family trust for $78 million last April. It is 260,000 square feet, spanning 3454-3455, 3465 and 3475 E. Foothill Blvd.
And in July, Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. purchased a roughly 50,000-square-foot medical office property from an individual for $35 million. The building is located at 630 S. Raymond Ave.
