Man-made streams meander through boulders and over waterfalls. A grand staircase lined with sculpted cypresses leads to one of several turn-of-the-century mansions. A formal Italian sunken garden is laid out nearby, along with fountains, sculpture and koi ponds. Magnolia, palms and century-old live oak trees provide shade.
Not exactly your typical college campus, but then the Ambassador College campus in Pasadena was never all that typical.
The college, closed since 1990, is up for sale by its owners, the Worldwide Church of God. Church officials still have their headquarters on the 35-acre campus, and are expected either to lease back space or relocate their offices nearby when the sale closes.
“We’ve had substantial interest from a wide range of users for this site, which would include the entertainment field, general commercial field, academic world, other religious institutions and non-profit institutions,” said Gregg Herbert, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis, which is handling the sale.
The property has been on the market since February 1997, and Herbert said he is in “advanced stages of discussion with the better potential buyers.”
Located along “Millionaire’s Row” on Orange Grove Boulevard, the property encompasses 70 buildings of 715,000 square feet in two locations, divided by the Long Beach (710) Freeway.
The heart of the campus is on the west side, with Ambassador Auditorium, several stately mansions, the administrative hall, gardens and a gymnasium.
“A lot of the buildings are historically or architecturally significant and should not be demolished, and even some landscaping is historically significant,” said Laura Dahl, a senior planner with the city of Pasadena.
The 13 acres on the east side of the property, by contrast, mostly are made up of warehouses.
Herbert said there is no stated asking price for the campus, although Dahl said most presume it will sell for more than $100 million.
The Pasadena Planning Commission last week recommended approval of a plan that calls for preserving Ambassador’s significant historical buildings and gardens. The plan also allows office, residential, hotel, institutional and corporate uses there, as well as new housing units.
Ambassador College opened with four students and eight faculty members in 1947. The other campus parcels were acquired in the 1950s and ’60s, incorporating half a dozen historical homes along Millionaires’ Row. New structures were added up to the mid-1970s. The 1,200-seat concert hall, which is known for its outstanding acoustics, hosted the Berlin Philharmonic, Dance Theatre of Harlem and other distinguished artists before concerts were discontinued in 1995.
Surrounded by reflecting pools, the sumptuously appointed building has a lobby and lower lounge of rose onyx from Turkey and Iran and two Baccarat candelabra, each containing 802 pieces of cut crystal, which inspired the abstract design on the carpet underneath.
The Worldwide Church of God had a long and colorful history leading to the sale of its showcase Pasadena campus and headquarters.
The late Herbert W. Armstrong founded the church in 1933 in Eugene, Ore. He relocated to the Los Angeles area in the 1940s, spreading gospel through a broadcast ministry and Plain Truth magazine. The church eventually grew to 125,000 members worldwide.
But after Armstrong’s death in 1986, the church moved closer to mainstream Christian beliefs. Membership decreased to 75,000 worldwide, as thousands of members broke away and formed splinter congregations.
Church services, however, are still held on campus.
Church officials declined comment, but they continue to maintain the campus in just about the same pristine condition. In fact, all who tour it are awed, Herbert said.
“There is no rush, nor is this a distress sale,” he said.
