The West Valley’s health care community continues to spread its wings. Blue Cross of California just inked a deal for 47,000 square feet at West Hills Corporate Pointe, the commercial park under development by Trammell Crow Co. at 8433 Fallbrook Ave. Blue Cross, which has its headquarters in Warner Center, will be expanding its offices into the new facility in a 10-year lease valued at $11.5 million. Blue Cross will occupy the ground floor of one of six buildings in the complex, which is currently under renovation. The lease brings the occupancy at Corporate Pointe to 40 percent, said Mark D. Leonard, principal and senior vice president at Trammell Crow. Other tenants include MRV Communications Inc. and Recycler. The complex consists of six buildings, including a 50,000-square-foot build-to-suit. Mark D. Leonard at Trammell Crow Co., along with Ron Wade, Mark T. Leonard, Matt Hargrove and Margaret Fichter at Cushman & Wakefield Inc., represented the development. Allen Trowbridge with Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant. With the lease, Blue Cross becomes the latest health care company to expand or relocate. Health Net recently inked a deal to relocate its corporate offices to LNR Warner Center. The company has been located in the Trillium. Warner Center has been considered a hub for health care, housing such companies as Aetna, Foundation Health Systems and Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. Former Dole HQ Leased Guitar Center Inc. leased the former Dole Foods facility in Westlake Village in a transaction valued at $6 million. The music equipment retailer, which is relocating from Agoura Hills, will set up its corporate headquarters in the facility at 5795 Lindero Canyon Road. Michael Slater and Tom Dwyer with CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented Guitar Center in the eight-year lease. Ken Ashen and Nick Gregg, also of CB Richard Ellis, represented the landlord, J. David Gladstone Institutes. Fourth Quarter Strong Office vacancy rates in the San Fernando Valley continued to inch downward in the fourth quarter of 2000, despite some evidence that the demand that fueled the market earlier in the year has cooled considerably. Overall, office vacancy rates in the Valley declined to 9.8 percent from 10.8 percent in the third quarter of the year and 11 percent for the comparable quarter last year, according to data recently released by Grubb & Ellis, Inc. The latest numbers reflected net absorption of over 530,000 square feet, indicating that a great deal of the new space that had come on line in the third quarter has been leasing briskly. Space was tightest in the Central Valley, which recorded a vacancy rate of 7.8 percent, the Grubb & Ellis report revealed. But the East Valley, with 8.1 percent; West Valley with 9.2 percent; and Conejo Valley, with 9.7 percent; all saw vacancy rates fall to single digits in the period. Only the Santa Clarita Valley, which has been slow to lease its office space, had significant vacancies, with rates at 33.2 percent. Consistent with the tightening in vacancy rates, rental rates continued to move higher during the last quarter of 2000. Asking rents for Class A office space averaged $2.27 per square foot throughout the San Fernando Valley, compared to $2.13 per square foot for the third quarter of last year, Grubb & Ellis reported. The biggest jump occurred in the East Valley, where rents rose by 10 percent to $2.54 per square foot. The West Valley also saw a substantial rise of 7 percent to $2.48 per square foot for the period. San Fernando Sale GMS Realty LLC acquired a shopping center in the city of San Fernando for $8.7 million. The 67,000-square-foot San Fernando Mission Plaza is anchored by Value Plus Food Warehouse and Hollywood Video. It is 100 percent occupied. Center Trust Inc. was the seller. GMS also owns Canyon Plaza, a shopping center in Sun Valley. Northridge Lease Child Care Resource Center has leased 14,000 square feet of office space at The Centre at Harman International Business Campus in Northridge. The five-year lease is valued at $1.65 million. The Centre is a 125,000-square-foot office building at 8510 Balboa Blvd. Rick Pearson at CRESA Partners represented the tenant. Mark D. Leonard at Trammell Crow represented the landlord. Speculating in Westlake Opus West Corp. has begun construction on Westlake Village City Center, a 132,800-square-foot office complex at 31111 Agoura Road. The speculative project will consist of two buildings, each 66,400 square feet. Construction is scheduled for completion in September 2001. Opus West acquired the property from Raypak Inc. last September. Nicholas Gregg and Ken Ashen, brokers with CB Richard Ellis, will market the development for Phoenix-based Opus West. Thousand Oaks Lease Medtronics, a maker of three-dimensional and holographic images, has leased a 7,042-square-foot industrial facility at the Grande Vista Business Park in Thousand Oaks. The five-year lease is valued at $440,000. Medtronics will relocate its sales and distribution operations to the new location. Tony Principe and Jim Darin of Westcord Commercial Real Estate Services represented business park owners Burke Real Estate Group. Staff reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 676-1750, ext. 14 or by e-mail at [email protected].
