The office tower at the corner of Ash and India streets in downtown San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood is set to be auctioned off in a forced sale next month as the project’s lender seeks to recover more than $30 million in unpaid debt from the building owner.
On April 15, Assured Lenders Services Inc., acting as trustee for Boise, Idaho-based commercial real estate lender A10 Capital LLC, recorded a notice of trustee’s sale for 610 W. Ash St., property records show.
The action is the last step in the nonjudicial foreclosure process, said Gordon Gerson, a commercial real estate lawyer whose firm, Gerson Law, represents lenders in foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings.
The notice of sale alerts the borrower — an affiliate of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Gemini Rosemont Commercial Real Estate — that it is in default of its 2017 deed of trust and is in danger or losing the property. It follows the initial notice of default and election to sell, which was recorded against the property on Dec. 19.
The property is currently scheduled for public auction to the highest bidder at the East County Regional Center in El Cajon on May 11.
The forced sale will take place unless a deal is negotiated with the lender or Gemini Rosemont files for bankruptcy, Gerson said. Trustee sale dates can, however, be extended weeks at a time for up to one year, he said.
“This is just another event in the down cycle of office buildings in downtown San Diego,” Gerson said. “Recovery may be on it’s way, but maybe long away.”
Built in 1986, the office tower at 610 W. Ash St. includes 189,243 square feet of space and was originally known as the John Burnham & Co. Building. It was also the longtime home of ESET before the cybersecurity company moved out in 2024.
The 19-story building features a glass facade, panoramic city and bay views and a nine-level parking structure. The lobby and tenant amenity areas were upgraded in 2019, according to real estate tracker CoStar, which lists the property as more than half vacant. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leases two full floors and one partial floor and is the building’s largest tenant, according to CoStar data. Petrini’s Restaurant and Capri Cafe are on the ground floor.
West Ash Operating LLC, an affiliate of Gemini Rosemont, purchased 610 W. Ash St. for $55 million in April 2016 and entered into a $33 million loan agreement with A10 Capital in March 2017.
The building owner has not made monthly payments on its loan since March 1, 2025, according to the notice of default. The default document lists a past-due sum of $3.1 million as of Dec. 8.
The total unpaid balance is $30.5 million, according to the notice of sale.
A10 Capital has also turned to the court system to recoup the total amount owed on the loan. On Jan. 7, the commercial real estate lending firm filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Gemini Rosemont in San Diego Superior Court. The complaint alleges that Gemini Rosemont violated the loan documents by entering into an unauthorized easement agreement with a neighboring property owner. The neighbor, India & Beech LLC, owns the parking lot at 1460 India St. and is also suing Gemini Rosemont. The parking lot owner planned to erect a residential skyscraper on the neighboring lot, and alleges that the 610 W. Ash owner has, through inaction related to an easement agreement, blocked its ability to build the project.
Both court cases are still pending.