Organization for Disabled Triples Space

AGOURA HILLS, CA-Joni and Friends, a worldwide Christian program for aiding the disabled, has acquired a 27,000-sf office building from the Spectrum Club for $4.3 million.

The new building triples the organization?s space in Agoura Hills, according to Keith Green and David Corsello of Daum Commercial Real Estate Services, who represented Joni in the purchase. The new owner has scheduled a Jan. 2004 occupancy of its newheadquarters, which is at 5115 Clareton Drive. The building is currently occupied by the Spectrum Club, which intends to continue its operations on the site until Jan. 1, 2004, when Joni will move about 50 workers to the site.

The new Joni and Friends International Center on Disability facility is a two-story steel frame “jewel box” building providing five per 1,000 sf surface parking, plus additional underground parking.

Joni and Friends is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 by founded by Joni Eareckson Tada , the company’s president, who became a quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident in 1967. During her rehabilitation she learned to paint fine art with a brush between her teeth, eventually producing paintings and prints that are sought after by collectors. She has produced several best-selling books and was the subject of a feature film.

In Joni?s purchase of the new headquarters, Michael Slater and Tom Dwyer of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller.