Commercial Observer: Graymark Capital to Convert LA Office Into Lab Space

Out with the old office, in with the new lab space.

Graymark Capital has acquired a 98,800-square-foot office in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and is set to convert it into a speculative life sciences campus thanks to a $42 million loan from MetLife, records show. CBRE announced the $17.8 million property sale and the interest-only, nonrecourse loan for conversion and development, but did not disclose the name of the lender.

The existing two-story office building was the headquarters for Wellpoint Health Networks. It was completed in 1998 on 6.7 acres at 120 South Via Merida Way in the Conejo Valley along Highway 101.

CBRE said the building’s infrastructure is well suited for lab redevelopment, with 50,000-square-foot floor plates, steel frame construction and ample power supply. BAM Creative designed the conversion plan that will feature 60 percent lab-ready space with upgraded mechanical, electrical and plumbing capabilities, as well as 40 percent newly built creative office support space.

Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles, is home to more than 30 life sciences companies, including Amgen’s headquarters. Greater L.A. has emerged as one of the top secondary life sciences clusters in the nation with 28 companies actively seeking space at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, according to CBRE. The market recorded 950,000 square feet of demand for lab and research & development space, with 681,170 square feet under construction.

“Thousand Oaks is the heartbeat of life sciences in Los Angeles,” CBRE’s Michael Longo said in a statement. “The property sits at the entrance to the market and offers an ideal lab conversion due to its high-quality construction and campus layout, in a market with almost zero available space.”

Longo, along with CBRE’s Sean Sullivan and Todd Tydlaska, closed the deal. CBRE’s Greg Grant facilitated financing.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.