Amgen is looking to sink more than half a billion dollars into a new science and innovation center in Thousand Oaks.
The biotech company has unveiled a plan to invest $600 million into building a research and development facility at its Thousand Oaks headquarters, Bisnow reported. The center is designed to increase collaboration between researchers, engineers and scientists at the biopharmaceutical company, according to L.A. Business First.
The new development will demolish and take the place of what Amgen calls “Building 14,” one of the older structures on the campus that is unused, per Bisnow. The new building will be known as “Building 50.” The project’s size and height weren’t disclosed and a contractor hasn’t been chosen yet.
Amgen’s move comes as the private sector and university research programs grapple with funding cuts from the National Institutes of Health. In July, Harvest Properties announced it was pausing a proposed expansion of a research and development campus in Emeryville as the life science market remains in limbo in the face of slashed funding.
Despite that, Amgen is moving forward with its growth plans. In June, the company announced a $900 million expansion of its manufacturing facility outside Columbus, Ohio, Bisnow reported. Last December, the firm announced it was building a $1 billion manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
Across the country in key life science markets like Boston and the Bay Area, lab space has become increasingly vacant as uncertainty over funding mounts. Los Angeles represents an outlier in the nationwide slump, however.
Lab leasing in L.A. fell to 60 deals in the first quarter of the year compared to 120 deals closing in the fourth quarter of last year. Total lab vacancy in L.A. hovers around 2 percent, making it the only single-digit lab vacancy figure across the U.S.
Construction on Amgen’s Building 50 is slated to begin this quarter and wrap up in 2029. Once complete, the center will employ advanced automation and digital capabilities to help with the research and development of pharmaceuticals, according to Business First.