Historical Pasadena Complex Leased

Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc., a Secaucus, N.J.-based specialty retailer, has agreed to lease the historical Royal Laundry in Pasadena for use as the Western regional headquarters of its Disney Store subsidiary.

Disney Store offices will occupy 72,000 square feet in a three-building complex on Raymond Avenue near Old Pasadena, according to brokerage Colliers Seeley International, which represented the lessee in the 13-year, $23-million agreement.

Royal Laundry buildings include a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival-style building and a 1930s Art Deco addition designed by architect Gordon Kaufman, who also designed the Athenaeum at Caltech, the Santa Anita racetrack and the Los Angeles Times building. The Royal Laundry closed in the 1980s, leaving the buildings empty.

A partnership led by Lee Group Inc. of Los Angeles acquired the property in 1995 and performed an $8-million renovation in 2001 to convert it to office space. Disney Store will be the Royal Laundry’s first office tenant when it moves in this fall.