USC Buys $57M Life Science Property on its Health Science Campus

USC has purchased a life science building on the school’s Health Science Campus from Doheny Eye Institute for $57 million. The property totals 75,272 square feet and four stories and it is adjacent to USC Norris Hospital. This was the last remaining building on the campus that was not owned by USC.

This was the first time the building has been for sale in its history. The property was developed in 1976 as a build-to-suit for Doheny Eye Institute, and it has since served as the headquarters for the company. With this sale, Doheny Eye Institute is relocating to a 115,000-square-foot building. They aren’t alone. General Motors is moving and expanding its Advanced Design Center from North Hollywood to a new location in Pasadena. The firm has invested more than $71 million to create a new 149,000-square-foot campus in Pasadena for the Advanced Design Center operations. The new location will expand capacity and create new jobs in the area. The new location is closer to technology centers that will help to accelerate GM’s lofty goals, which include zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.

The USC building features 14,071 square feet of highly specialized lab space and is considered both rare and highly specialized. According to Fred Cordova of Corion Properties Inc., USC has the opportunity to redevelop or reposition the property to better fit with its bigger plans for the campus.

Cordova, Al Grazioli and JoAnn Horeni of Corion Properties Inc. along with Newmark co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon, executive managing directors Rob Hannan and Ken White and senior managing director Laura Stumm, represented the seller in the deal. CBRE represented USC.

While not one of the big three life science hubs, Los Angeles is one of the biggest growth markets for the sector. Growth in emerging markets like Raleigh-Durham, Los Angeles, and Washington DC are fueling serious competition, according to research from JLL. Historically, investors in the sector targeted legacy markets where industry clusters are most long standing, and where a vast inventory of lab properties already exist. But as buyer competition heats up in those markets, development activity has begun to push to secondary cities. Companies in the city are primed for growth. L.A. County life sciences companies raised $1.7 billion in financing last year, the most of any county in California, according to research from JLL.