Kilroy Gets Key Tenant for Project

VPA Inc. plans to expand and relocate its headquarters operation to a building to be erected next to its current Calabasas headquarters.

After considering alternative sites from the Warner Center to Agoura, VPA opted to stay near its leased Calabasas Road offices in a building to be developed by Kilroy Realty Corp., said broker Bryan Lewitt of Staubach Los Angeles, VPA’s real estate consultant.

VPA, founded 20 years ago as Voluntary Plan Administrators by President Jack Bredehorn, expects to relocate about 150 headquarters employees about a year after ground is broken on the 100,000-square-foot first office phase of the long-delayed Calabasas Park Centre development, Lewitt added. The company will occupy about 40,000 square feet in the four-story structure. Kilroy, an El Segundo-based real estate investment trust, hopes to commence construction in June or July.

VPA, which administers self-insurance plans that many large employers select as an alternative to state-run disability programs, currently occupies about 28,000 square feet. Its clients include PepsiCo, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, TRW and Clorox. The firm generated 1998 claims revenue of just under $11 million.

Lewitt declined to reveal the total value of the 10-year lease transaction, which CB Richard Ellis’ Bill Inglis and Michael Slater negotiated on behalf of the developer. He did say that office rents in the western San Fernando Valley have climbed about 10% over the last year as tenant demand has remained relatively robust.

Space in Calabasas office buildings rents for an average of $1.95 per square foot per month according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, which would put the value of the VPA lease at $9 million to $10 million.