Client: Dermalogica, Inc. – an International skin care manufactuer operating in 35 countries on five continents around  the world. Headquartered in Carson, California, Divaris Real Estate, Inc. handles the corporate real estate for Dermalogica throughout the United States and Canada.

Location: 1535 Beachey Place, Carson, California 90746

Size: 145,000 square feet

Assignment: To secure a state-of-the-art headquarters and distribution center for the company The headquarters needed to not only accommodate corporate executives, but also to serve as a facility for product development, training of the professional skin care therapists of The International Dermal Institute and as a distribution facility as well.

Approach: To review all options in the greater Los Angeles market, to accommodate the world headquarters. The assignment took five years to complete as a multitude of lease versus buy options were considered. In anticipation of a lengthy search, a short-term extension of the existing lease was renegotiated so the company could continue business throughout the search process. Existing sites and built-to-suit opportunities in Torrance, El Segundo and Culver City were considered. Researched Dermalogica’s employee commute patterns by division and plotted them into MapInfo as dot density graphics. Reviewed the Best and Final offers from four developers.

Results:

  • A build-to-suit site was selected in The Dominguez Technology Center in Carson.
  • A long-term lease was negotiated for a 145,000-square-foot, self-contained headquarters building that comprises the corporate offices, the Institute, a product development department and worldwide distribution facility.
  • Construction began in the second quarter of 2004 and was completed in the summer of 2005.
  • Dermalogica secured its requirements at an occupancy cost of 40 percent less than it had been paying previously.