by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Beyond the smiles and high spirits at the Service Center for Independent Life’s annual summer bash at the Spring Street Center, there was a bit of news SCIL Executive Director Larry Grable was excited to share.

“It’s the first time I didn’t have to call a landlord to get permission to do it,” Grable said of his ability to host the event.

SCIL and AgingNext — two long-time Claremont nonprofits known for helping people live better independently — recently purchased the 1.93-acre Spring Street Center at 109 Spring St. from Claremont Spring Street LLC for $5.3 million. An anonymous donor contributed $500,000 and SCIL and AgingNext used reserves to cover the rest.

The news came during the nonprofits’ first joint summer celebration for their clients, volunteers and community partners.

“In a nonprofit setting, it’s very seldom that you get into this opportunity and to partner with another organization and say, hey, why don’t we make an investment and instead of paying rent, let’s build equity,” AgingNext CEO Abigail Pascua said.

Does the real estate deal mean AgingNext and Service Center for Independent Life may merge?

“Is that a possibility? Absolutely,” Pascua said. “And like I said at our 50th anniversary, the founder of AgingNext, Mary Sando, became an executive director for SCIL later on. So, it’s like a full circle. Why not? We definitely entertain that thought.”

“We service the same communities, just different programing, and now [this] actually gives more availability to programing to both of our consumers,” Grable said.

Months before the deal was sealed, Pascua was considering the financial future of AgingNext. Having just moved to a new location at Spring Street Center and with costly plans to relocate its memory care center from Larkin Park, she recalled staying up late one night last November to assess alternative locations for the nonprofit. She came across a property listing for 109 Spring St. and inquired with Claremont real estate broker Nick Quackenbos, who confirmed that the Spring Street Center was on the market and garnering interest.

“Nothing had ever been sent to us,” Grable said. “We had no idea they were looking at selling the property. Abby and I, along with our boards, decided we needed to put in a bid.”

Escrow closed on April 30, 2025, and the new partnership was the official owner on May 1. Grable said Claremont would have likely lost both nonprofits if the sale had not gone through.

“The big thing for the City of Claremont, if we didn’t buy this property, it would have been purchased by building contractors and they would have built more housing here, and you would have lost all the services that are being provided at this center,” Grable said.

Other tenants at Spring Street Center are Kids First Pediatric Therapy, the Law Office of Eric Beatty, and Pomona College, which hosts art workshops there.

The new owners and tenants still pay rent to property manager The Renken Company and share in various expenses, including taxes, maintenance, landscaping, and security.

So, what do Sprint Street Center’s new owners have planned for the future? “Expand. Build,” Pascua said. “Grow up,” Grable said, meaning building upward.