NAI Capital Commercial has arranged the $5.1 million sale of a former skilled nursing facility in Pasadena that will be transformed into temporary housing focused on mental health support and substance abuse prevention. The transaction represents a new chapter for a property that has been vacant since losing its operating license during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agri Capital reportedly sold the 28,512-square-foot facility at 1450 N. Fair Oaks Ave. for $180 per square foot of building area and $147 per square foot of land. The 42-unit facility sits on a 34,980-square-foot lot and was vacant at the time of sale.
“The owner plans to repurpose the building as a temporary housing facility focused on mental health support and substance use prevention,” according to NAI Capital Commercial.
Stephen Lam, Guillermo Olaiz and John Archibald of NAI Capital represented the seller in the deal. The buyer, 1450 N Fair Oaks LLC, was incorporated in California on December 9, 2010, with Josemar Mercado listed as Manager and Chief Executive Officer at a registered address in Bradbury.
The facility’s sale comes more than four years after the California Department of Public Health suspended Golden Cross Health Care’s license on June 10, 2020, due to “ongoing and serious quality of care concerns,” including COVID-19 issues. The suspension followed a devastating outbreak that resulted in 104 confirmed COVID-19 cases—72 residents and 32 staff members—and 16 deaths.
Following the license suspension, 63 residents were evacuated from the facility. The scale of the problems became clear when city officials investigated the facility’s handling of the pandemic.
“We found the facility outright lied to us about the condition of some of the patients there,” one city official is reported to have said during interviews about Golden Cross Health Care’s conduct.
The facility’s closure triggered a series of zoning decisions that permanently ended its healthcare use. After 12 months of disuse, Pasadena Zoning Administrator Luis Rocha ruled on June 16, 2021, that the facility’s non-conforming status had lapsed.
The Board of Zoning Appeals upheld the decision in a 4-0 vote on August 19, 2021, terminating the facility’s non-conforming Medical Services—Extended Care rights. The Pasadena City Council affirmed the Board’s decision on November 22, 2021, permanently ending the facility’s non-conforming use rights.
The property, built in 1965 and previously operated as a skilled nursing facility, brings 60 years of healthcare-focused design to its new role addressing mental health and substance abuse needs in the community.
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