THOUSAND OAKS : City to Discuss Land Sale to Company

Thousand Oaks council members have agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a biotechnology firm that wants to buy 18 acres of municipal property, including a building that houses City Hall.

“The naysayers have always said we couldn’t sell this building,” Councilman Frank Schillo said before the unanimous vote Tuesday night to negotiate with Amgen. “I think we’re about to do that.”

If the deal is successful, Thousand Oaks would have to move out of the City Hall building at 2150 W. Hillcrest Drive and a service yard at 1851 De Havilland Drive before the end of the year, City Manager Grant R. Brimhall said.

Thousand Oaks bought the 58,000-square-foot building five years ago for $8 million and put in about $500,000 in improvements, said Robert Biery, city finance director.

The city is constructing a new City Hall at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road. That building, however, will not be complete until October, 1994.

The talks will include discussions on the cost of transferring city workers and operations to another site, Brimhall said.

Amgen has offered to move the city to a 88,000-square-foot building that the company leases at 375 Conejo Ridge Ave., according to a letter from corporate real estate manager Allan Miller.

Amgen, one of the city’s largest employers, has undergone tremendous growth over the past five years. Its corporate headquarters, manufacturing and research facilities are at 1840 De Havilland Drive.

The company produces two pharmaceutical products, Epogen, an anti-anemia drug for kidney dialysis patients, and Neupogen, which strengthens the immune systems of chemotherapy patients.