PHARMAVITE PLANS TO THRIVE IN VALENCIA SETTING.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

A big nutritional supplements manufacturer will relocate its production and product development operations from San Fernando to Valencia later this year, officials said Friday.

Pharmavite Corp. has leased the entire four-building, 740,000-square-foot complex at Vista Business Park in the 2300 block of Livingston Avenue. The company's West Coast distribution center, now located in the 25000 block of Tibbetts Avenue in Valencia, also will be consolidated into the new facility.

Pharmavite, headquartered in Mission Hills, plans to begin the move during the third quarter and complete it in 2000, said Kathy Doerwald, the company's manager of office services. The company leased one of the buildings earlier this year.

Currently 515 people work at the product production and packaging operations spread over three buildings in the 1100 to 1200 block of Aviation Place in San Fernando, she said. They all will be transferred to Valencia.

Pharmavite does not have a firm timetable for the move, which Doerwald said the company is making because it needs room to grow.

``We don't have any final plans at the moment because we are in the design phase. But we've told employees it will be in the third quarter,'' she said.

The lease is for 10 years but the company declined to disclose financial terms. However, a source said it is probably in the range of $4.5 million to $5 million a year based on current lease rates in that market of 50 cents a square foot.

``The move is important because it provides growth opportunities, consolidates our operations and provides greater retention of our employees,'' Pharmavite President Ted Higuchi said in a statement.

The Vista Business Park is owned by Seattle-based Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel Inc., a trust. It was developed and managed by Investment Development Services Inc. in Los Angeles.

David Mgrublian, managing director of IDS, said the deal struck with Pharmavite could prompt more projects in the Santa Clarita Valley.

``Based on the performance of Vista Business Park we expect to expand our relationship with Newhall Land and Farming and develop more large industrial buildings in the market,'' he said.

Jim Linn and Nigel Stout of Grubb & Ellis represented IDS and Kennedy Associates and Eric Olafson and Satour Jo of Cushman Realty Corp. represented Pharmavite.