Another big Amgen/Intel deal helps submarket hold steady.

AMGEN Inc. continued its expansion in Ventura County by subleasing yet another building owned by Intel Corp., helping the Thousand Oaks' office vacancy rate dip slightly during the fourth quarter.

Elsewhere in Ventura County, though, office vacancies were rising. The county's overall vacancy rate climbed to 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter from 8.7 percent in the previous three months.

Normally, properties in the East County submarket are a popular destination for higher-end companies relocating from the San Fernando Valley. However, East County office vacancy rates climbed to 9.7 percent in the fourth quarter from 8.4 percent the July-September period. In the West County, vacancies rose sequentially to 11.6 percent from 9.3 percent.

Brokers said new development is coming onto a market that hasn't yet recovered from the tech bust and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"We've spent the last two years not only absorbing the Intel product and other sublease space, but also these brand new buildings that were built to accommodate these brand new tenants that evaporated (in 2001)," said Tony Principe, senior vice president of Westcord Commercial Real Estate Services.

In Thousand Oaks, office vacancies declined to 11.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 11.2 percent in the previous period and 24.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002. It was the only Ventura County submarket to register a decline in office vacancy rates.

Last month, Amgen subleased 88,000 square feet of space from Intel for an undisclosed sum over 2 1/2 years at 2300 Corporate Center Drive at Conejo Spectrum in Thousand Oaks.

Amgen also bought a 10-acre parcel from Intel for about $5 million in the same office complex on Spectrum Drive.

The property, once owned by Northrop Grumman Corp., will be redeveloped by Investment Development Services Inc. of Los Angeles.

Last June, the biotech giant signed an eight-year sublease in the mid-$20 million range for 200,000 square feet of adjacent space.

Intel has about 50,000 available square feet left, mostly in the Newbury Park section of Thousand Oaks, from about 400,000 square feet it put on the market in early 2003. Westcord brokers said they were in negotiations to sublease the remainder during the current fast quarter.

That spells good news for developers of rental space that came on the market after Sept. 11, 2001.

Their asking price of $2.25 to $2.45 per square foot for East County space cannot compete with Intel or other sublessors who are asking $1.50 to $1.75 and offering major concessions, such as up to $500,000 worth of furnishings and phone systems tenants can keep when the lease expires.

"It is very difficult to compete with sublease space--particularly big block space," said Mike Foxworthy, executive vice president in charge of the Ventura County office market for GVA Daum Commercial Real Estate Services. "A landlord has debt service he has to meet or investor expectations. Dropping the rates would devalue the buildings."

Yet Ventura County continued to be an attractive location for some businesses.

Aetna Life Insurance Co. signed a seven-year lease in November for more than $5.7 million on 34,000 square feet of space in the Arbors of Thousand Oaks at 2545 W. Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks.

Conejo Spectrum will also soon be the new headquarters for CERES Inc., a Malibu-based biotech firm that in October signed a 10-year lease on 48,598 square feet of space for nearly $4.4 million. The company is spending up to $4 million to renovate its portion of the 97,000-square-foot building at 1535 Rancho Conejo Blvd.

CarrAmerica Realty Corp. leased 7,931 square feet of space for seven years at an undisclosed sum in Westlake Spectrum, at 4360 Park Terrace Drive in Westlake Village, to Theiss Institute, a health and fitness training organization, in October.

Industrial vacancy rates in Ventura County were 10 percent during the fourth quarter, up from 9.9 percent during the previous three months.

Puretec Industrial Water paid $2.4 million for a 10,000-square-foot building in McInnes Ranch Business Park at 3151 E. Sturgis Road in Oxnard last November.

In December, Prime Packaging Inc. paid $1.5 million for a 19,380-square-foot industrial facility at 1201 Maulhardt Ave. in Oxnard, where it will relocate the headquarters of its North Hollywood-based product packaging operation.

"The market has been quite slow on the industrial front," said John DeGrinis, senior vice president at Colliers Seeley International Inc. "Research and development companies have been hunkered down waiting for a sustained level of improvement in their field."

Major Events:

* Aetna Life Insurance Co. signed a seven-year lease for more than $5.7 million on 34,000 square feet of space at 2545 W. Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks.

* Amgen paid about $5 million for a 10-acre parcel on Spectrum Drive in Thousand Oaks, and an undisclosed sum to sublease 88,000 square feet for 2 1/2 years at 2300 Corporate Center Drive Thousand Oaks.

* CERES Inc. signed a 10-year lease on 48,598 square feet for nearly $4.4 million.

* Puretec Industrial Water paid $2.4 million for a 10,000-square-foot building on East Sturgis Road in Oxnard.

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