Pacesetter Says It’s Losing Money, Will Halt Projects

Pacesetter Business Properties, a small developer, said Wednesday that it lost $4.3 million on revenue of $8.5 million last year and has stopped developing new projects.

Losses in 1989 were $3.5 million on revenue of $8.5 million.

During the fourth quarter, the company lost $2.4 million on revenue of $1.6 million, compared to a 1989 fourth-quarter loss of $930,000 on revenue of $2.1 million.

Pacesetter has been hurt by a lack of tenants for some research and development buildings that it owns in Yorba Linda, according to its president, Steven R. Strauss.

The company said it took a $1.2-million writedown last year on those buildings, which it expects its lenders to repossess soon to compensate for loans that the company is unable to repay.

Pacesetter said another reason it stopped development projects was because it needed to put aside $3.5 million that may be due the Internal Revenue Service after an agency inquiry about parts of a former parent company’s tax returns in 1983 and 1984.

Pacesetter Business Properties was spun off in 1988 to shareholders of former parent company American Pacesetter, a Newport Beach savings and loan.