USC purchased a life sciences building on the school’s health sciences campus from the Doheny Eye Institute for $ 57 million. The property totals 75,272 square feet and four floors and is adjacent to USC Norris Hospital. It was the last remaining building on campus that did not belong to USC.

It was the first time that the building was put up for sale in its history. The property was developed in 1976 as a custom build for the Doheny Eye Institute and has since served as the company’s headquarters. With this sale, the Doheny Eye Institute moves into a 115,000 square foot building. They are not alone. General Motors is move and stretch its North Hollywood Advanced Design Center at a new location in Pasadena. The company has invested more than $ 71 million to create a new 149,000 square foot campus in Pasadena for advanced design center operations. The new location will increase capacity and create new jobs in the area. The new location is closer to technology hubs that will help accelerate GM’s lofty goals, which include zero accidents, zero emissions, and zero congestion.

The USC building comprises 14,071 square feet of highly specialized laboratory space and is considered to be both rare and highly specialized. According to Fred Cordova of Corion Properties Inc., USC has the flexibility to redevelop or reposition the property to better suit its larger projects for the campus.

Cordova, Al Grazioli and JoAnn Horeni of Corion Properties Inc. as well as Newmark’s 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 ‘case. CBRE represented USC.

Although it is not one of the three major life sciences hubs, Los Angeles is one of the most promising markets in the sector. Growth in emerging markets like Raleigh-Durham, Los Angeles and Washington DC is fueling serious competition, according to research by JLL. Historically, industry investors have targeted legacy markets where industry clusters have been around the longest and where a large inventory of laboratory properties already exists. But as buyer competition intensifies in these markets, development activity has started to shift to secondary cities. The city’s businesses are poised to grow. LA County life science companies raised $ 1.7 billion in funding last year, the most of any county in California, according to a JLL study.