Fuller Seminary moving to Pomona, selling 13 acres in Pasadena

PASADENA (KABC) -- With rising rents in Pasadena, Fuller Seminary, the largest multidenominational seminary in the country, has decided to relocate to Pomona.

"The most heartbreaking part of my job is hearing students who want to come to Fuller and cannot afford to live in Pasadena. Given that the market rents in Pomona are cheaper than what we're able to provide with heavily subsidized rents in Pasadena, we're hopeful that this move will expand the reach of Fuller Seminary," said Mari Clements, the acting provost at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Rising rents means the land Fuller owns is more valuable than ever. A sale will provide the theological seminary with funds to build for its future.

Fuller's campus runs right into downtown Pasadena. With land so valuable in Los Angeles County, it's rare to find 13 acres in the middle of a downtown business district.

"It was never designed as a campus so it's really hard for us to have the kinds of organic gatherings between students and faculty. So we're looking forward to designing a state-of-the-art collaborative, integrative campus from the ground up," said Clements.

Student Julia Hendrickson added that "This is a great thing for the school. We have a chance to increase our endowment. We have a chance to build a highly functional, future-thinking campus."

Laurie Lustig-Bower with CBRE is the real estate broker handling the listing. The property isn't on the market yet, but there's already heavy interest.

"It could be an educational company. It could be a medical institution. It could be small mom and pops that want to own one of the craftsman buildings for their own business. It could be a variety of different buyers including apartment buildings," said Bower.