Deals Boost Conejo Market

Principe, based in the Westlake Village headquarters of Westcord, reports that Amgen has already occupied the two-story office building at 2300 Corporate Center Drive. In the land deal, Intel sold 9.4 acres on Spectrum Drive adjacent to a 200,000-sf. office building that Amgen subleased earlier from Intel at Conejo Spectrum in Newbury Park. Amgen will use the land for future expansion, according to Principe, who represented Intel in both transactions. Terms of the recent transactions were not disclosed, but they were part of what were described as $30 million in recent Newbury Park transactions that indicate an improving office market in the Conejo Valley.

Intel, which has been one of the most active players in recent months, is marketing a fully furnished 21,000-sf office building at 26610 Agoura Road, the last of its former properties in the area, with Principe as the listing agent. Commenting on the Intel transactions, Principe says that as soon as most of the Intel properties came off the market, landlords became far more bullish about conditions in the area. Since the Intel space is gone, he says, landlords are increasingly able to lease their space, resulting in a Conejo Valley office vacancy rate of below 9%, compared with 14% one year ago.

The Newbury Park space is part of what is known as the 101 Technology Corridor office market, which is variously defined by different brokerage firms. In general, the market stretches for about 30 miles along the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and includes up to 4 million sf of offices.