Kilroy lands Blue Shield at new LB office campus

Kilroy Realty has bagged a major health insurer as a tenant at its new office campus near the Long Beach Airport.

Blue Shield of California signed an 11-year lease for about 72,000 square feet at Kilroy’s Aero office campus in Long Beach, Kilroy said in a Monday release. Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed and Blue Shield did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Located off the 405 Freeway and North Lakewood Boulevard, the seven-building office park totals about 941,000 square feet. The company recently completed renovations to the property, adding a fitness center, cafe, park and fountain space and crosswalks.

Asking rents at the property in 2020 were $3.25 per square foot per month, according to Kilroy’s own marketing materials for the campus.

The deal marks Blue Shield’s first office campus in Long Beach. The firm is headquartered in Oakland and has four offices in Los Angeles County, including locations at 6300 Canoga Avenue in Woodland Hills; 25721 Rye Canyon Road in Valencia; 100 North Sepulveda Boulevard in El Segundo; and 601 Potrero Grande Drive in Monterey Park.

Kilroy has signed 190,000 square feet of new leases and renewals so far this quarter — more than the 183,000 square feet signed in the first quarter. A highlight for the company then was Nuro’s 114,000-square-foot lease renewal and expansion at 1290 Terra Bella Avenue in Mountain View.

About 22 percent of all office space in Long Beach’s downtown and suburbs was vacant in the first quarter — higher than Los Angeles’ total vacancy rate of about 18 percent, according to CBRE.

Across the Mid-Counties area, which runs from El Segundo and Torrance south to Long Beach, 9.6 percent of all office space was vacant in the first quarter.