LOS ANGELES—DaVita Healthcare Partners has signed an office lease for an 185,000-square-foot space at Apollo@Rosecrans in El Segundo. The new office space relocates the firm's current 90,000-square-foot regional headquarters in Torrance, and more than doubles its current space. The tenant will take occupancy of the building in the fourth quarter of 2015.

“The square-foot per employee is less dense than it was before, which is closer to the DaVita standard nationwide. It is not about packing in bodies; it is about creating the right work environment for their employees,” Mike McKeever, a broker at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “Healthcare Partners were really tight and efficient in their space down in Torrance, and when the DaVita leadership took over, they said that this is not a facility that is up to our standards. They decided to invest in their workplace, and do it as soon as they could.” McKeever represented DaVita Healthcare Partners in the lease transaction along with his JLL colleagues Gary Horwitz and Kamil Agha. Grafton Tanquary and Bob Healey of CBRE represented the landlord, Invesco Real Estate and SSV Properties.

Healthcare Partners has a lease on the Torrance facility through 2019, and plans to sublease the space to another company until the lease term expires. The new facility will house the approximately 700 employees from the Torrance facility as well as a few ancillary groups. Located at 2175 Park Place and 2120 Park Place, the four-building Apollo@Rosecrans is an office campus currently under construction within Continental Park in El Segundo. The property is in an amenity-rich area, and once complete, will have a central courtyard that connects the properties. DaVita will occupy one-and-a-half of the four buildings on the campus. Additionally, the property is within walking distance to two other DaVita Healthcare offices.

“The open plan doesn't work because there has to be areas for focus time,” says McKeever. “It can work for some, but I think it is going to evolve to a more balanced layout that includes open space and closed space. When you start to add in those closed spaces for focus time; that pushes your square footage up. Some companies were dropping down to 140 square feet per employee, when I think the median now is closer to 180 to 220 square feet per employee.”

Continental Development, the owners of the greater Continental Park where the campus is located, recently secured a $26 million loan to refinance two properties totalling 184,540 square feet at the park, which totals 2.7 million square feet. The landlord secured the funds through a life insurance company after being unhappy with their previous CMBS lender. The loan carries a 15-year term with a 25-year amortization schedule.