Agensys will consolidate six separate facilities currently operating in Santa Monica to the new $95 million complex when it is completed in 2013. Construction will begin this month. It is designed to accommodate the firms rapid growth from 180 employees to more than 300 over the next three years, according to Agensys Executive Vice President Paul Kanan.
Our first choice had always been to stay in Santa Monica, says Kanan. The City provides a variety of first class amenities for our employees, many of whom live here and we have had very good results in both relocating talented employees from other parts of the country and also finding many good people locally. This property represented the best possible site for our employees and the future of our company.
The former American Standard water heater manufacturing facility has remained fallow since being shuttered by the kitchen and bath appliance manufacturer in 1980. Currently located on the site south of Olympic Boulevard, are several obsolete steel Butler and concrete tilt-up industrial buildings that were built between 1950 and 1970. The property is immediately adjacent to the Bergamot Station Art Center and the future 26th/Olympic station of the planned Expo Light Rail Line that will run from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.
The site is part of a nine-acre parcel acquired by the City of Santa Monica in 1989 from Southern Pacific Railroad and was considered for use as a maintenance yard for the planned 15.2 mile Expo Light Rail Line. The Lionstone Group acquired the ground lease on the four-acre parcel in 2007 through Lionstone Cash Flow Office One, LP, a joint venture between Lionstone and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund.
The sale of the ground leasehold to Agensys follows extensive negotiations with the City, initially to keep the proposed light rail yard off the 1800 Stewart site, and later to secure development approvals and extend the lease term, which was set to expire in 2030, according to Jacobsen, Lionstones operating partner for commercial real estate development and brokerage.
