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Event Host

Future Site of Armata Pharmaceuticals

Future Site of Armata Pharmaceuticals

Biotech company, Armata Pharmaceuticals, is focused on the development of precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant and difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. Currently headquartered in Marina Del Rey, CA, the company plans to move into its new home located at 5005 McConnell Ave. Come spring 2023, just a stone's throw away from Ballona Creek. It will include an office, as well as manufacturing, and research and development spaces, all within a 56,300 square foot building. Worksmart Design is excited to be part of this new chapter with Armata Pharmaceuticals as the two companies are focused on designing a healthier, human-focused world. And just like Armata, Worksmart specializes in a multi-disciplined approach combining workplace and life science strategy/planning, design, architecture and construction. The new headquarters will help to solidify Los Angeles as a biotech hub in the way that Boston and San Diego have done so in the past, contributing to the city’s large-scale investments in the industry.

Speakers and Panels

The State of Life Sciences in Los Angeles

High-Level Discussion on the Development of Today's Regional Cluster

Stephanie Hsieh

Stephanie Hsieh

Interim CEO

BioscienceLA

Jonathan Lange

Jonathan Lange

Founder & Managing Partner

Red Pill Real Estate

Matthew Ollier

Matthew Ollier

Principal and Partner

Hawkins\Brown

Mike Barbera

Mike Barbera

President

Intersect Management

Tony Natsis
Moderator

Tony Natsis

Partner

Allen Matkins

Stephanie Hsieh

Interim CEO

BioscienceLA

Stephanie Hsieh was recently appointed as interim CEO of Bioscience Los Angeles County, Inc., a

public/private partnership founded by Los Angeles County with the purpose of promoting regional economic

development through the life science industry. In addition, Stephanie serves as an independent director on

the boards of public and private corporations with her board experience spanning biotech, fintech and

banking.

Previously, Stephanie was executive director of Biocom California’s Los Angeles office, having served on its LA

advisory board. The regional bioscience ecosystem development work that she is now immersed in is the

culmination of over 30 years in and servicing the biotech/biopharma industries; combining her operational

knowledge of drug development and experience as a former patent attorney, angel investor, and

entrepreneur/biopharma executive with economic development and advocacy work on behalf of the

industry.

Stephanie graduated magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi from Wellesley College, where she

majored in Biological Chemistry. She then received a JD from Columbia Law School, as a Harlan Fiske Stone

Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, she was

recognized by the LA Business Journal as one of the “most influential leaders and impactful executives in Los

Angeles.”

Matthew Ollier

Principal and Partner

Hawkins\Brown

Matthew has over 20-years’ experience working within the Higher Education and Science and Technology sectors for both public institutions and private industry. Having spent the last 7 years establishing Hawkins\Brown’s first US studio, Matthew has a unique global perspective on academic and research trends through his work for leading academic institutions such as the University of Oxford, Northwestern University in Chicago and UC San Diego. Matthew is a keen advocate for innovation, championing social and environmentally sustainable design alongside research-driven solutions and modern methods of construction.

Mike Barbera

President

Intersect Management

As President of Intersect Management, I have 30 years of

continuous experience and well-over $3B of CAPEX

management experience.

I have led multi-faceted, highly collaborative project teams

on various types of projects. With a high focus on the

technically complex, highly amenitized developments and

redevelopments in industries such as biotech,

pharmaceutical, semiconductor, mission critical, and

commercial office.

I understand the level of detail required to successfully

execute these types of projects. My experience ranges from

modern office environments and highly complex

pharmaceutical and mission critical facilities, to the more

unique sports complex and restaurant space.

Tony Natsis

Moderator

Allen Matkins

A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times.

A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School.

In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration.

One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.

The Importance of Growth and Building the Community

The Future of Talent Education, Creating Space, and Operational Demands

Brian Varnum

Brian Varnum

CEO

Armata Pharmaceuticals

Allan Glass

Allan Glass

President & CEO

ASG Real Estate

H. Howard Xu

H. Howard Xu

Director of Incubator Development & Programming

California State University, Los Angeles

David Oh

David Oh

Regional Director, Science & Technology

Boulder Associates

Frank Fritsch
Moderator

Frank Fritsch

Director

tk1sc

Brian Varnum

CEO

Armata Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Varnum has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors of Armata Pharmaceuticals since August 2021. Dr. Varnum joined C3J Therapeutics in 2012 as Vice President of Product Development, stepping into the role of Chief Development Officer in 2014, and then President in May 2019, both roles he continued to serve at Armata Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Varnum is a biotech veteran with more than 25 years of experience. He began his career with Amgen and spent more than 18 years at the biotech pioneer as that company grew from a start-up to a large and successful biotechnology company. Dr. Varnum started in discovery research where his team purified novel growth factors and advanced antibodies and small molecules into clinical studies. Dr. Varnum also worked in development, assisting with clinical development of proteins, antibodies and small molecules. In this capacity, he contributed to key regulatory filings, market research and product launch, giving him experience in drug discovery and development from the lab bench to product launch and marketing. After retiring from Amgen in 2007, Dr. Varnum turned his focus to the start-up landscape, working in several capacities, including assisting investors, entrepreneurs and start-ups in the assessment of technologies for funding or in-licensing. In these capacities, he established research strategies and plans, and served as CSO for several companies, securing funding, and executing research contracts with large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Varnum obtained his Ph.D. from UCLA studying oncogenes, and his drug development research experience includes hematopoietic growth factor discovery, oncology, auto-immune/inflammatory disorders, personalized medicine in IBD and infectious diseases.

H. Howard Xu

Director of Incubator Development & Programming

California State University, Los Angeles

Howard Xu is the director for incubator development and programming. With biotech R&D experience

in both industry and academia, he directs and works with key bioscience stakeholders to successfully

run the Cal State LA BioStart bioentrepreneurs bootcamp. He helps oversee the University’s initiatives in

promoting a strong bioscience innovation ecosystem. He has also helped secure funding from L.A.

County and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. He was honored with California State

University (CSU) systemwide 2011 Andreoli Faculty Service Award and 2018 Faculty Research Award by

CSUPERB (California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology). He was also

awarded Outstanding Professor at Cal State LA in 2019.

David Oh

Regional Director, Science & Technology

Boulder Associates

David Oh is a highly experienced leader in lab planning and design with over three decades of experience in various markets, including semiconductors, advanced technology, biotech, biomedical, telecommunications, aerospace, and mission-critical facilities. He has extensive knowledge in the STEM field and the science and pharmaceutical industry, and has worked on diverse projects such as workplace, industrial, institutional, education, public, commercial, and healthcare.

David received his Bachelor of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and has held various positions such as Designer, Studio Leader, Project Executive, Project Designer, Project Manager, Managing Principal, and Principal-in-Charge. He has provided design, planning, project management and leadership, construction management, and quality control and assurance services for projects in the United States and internationally.

Frank Fritsch

Moderator

tk1sc

Frank carries more than ten years of electrical engineering and MEP project management experience. He is a hands-on leader engaged in all engineering decisions and manages each program within his purview. Frank is involved in all phases of construction document preparation, including schematic and design development services, comprehensive electrical specifications, energy compliance documentation, estimating, and construction field support. In addition, Frank contributes to a wide range of projects, including corporate, laboratories, commercial, and healthcare, which has cultivated a deep understanding of all aspects of electrical design and various project delivery types, including design-build and design-assist.

Meeting the Demands of SoCal's Leading Tenants

A Deep Dive into the Evolving Needs of End Users and Market Fundamentals

Josh Goldman

Josh Goldman

Managing Director - Development

Gemdale USA Corporation

Andrew Gray

Andrew Gray

Co-Founder & CEO

Karma Biotech

Shaun Stiles

Shaun Stiles

Executive Managing Director

Newmark

Enrique Ceniceros

Enrique Ceniceros

Principal, Project Executive, Science & Technology

Taylor Design

David Arellano

David Arellano

Life Sciences Core Market Leader, SoCal

DPR Construction

Dave Whelan
Moderator

Dave Whelan

CBO

Big4Bio

Josh Goldman

Managing Director - Development

Gemdale USA Corporation

Josh Goldman leads San Diego and Orange County development at Gemdale USA and is responsible for executing the business plan for those markets.

Prior to joining Gemdale USA, Mr. Goldman held various senior roles for Brookfield Properties, Rouse Properties, DDR, and The Rappaport companies. In those roles, Josh developed well over a billion dollars of product across multiple asset classes. He has deep experience in multiple high barrier to entry markets.

Mr. Goldman holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Maryland and is an active member of ULI.

Andrew Gray

Co-Founder & CEO

Karma Biotech

Dr. Andrew Gray is an immune engineer and co-founder of Karma Biotechnologies, a Los Angeles startup on a mission to bring treatments for autoimmunity into the 21 st century. Andrew was only eight years old when his mother was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a devastating and incurable autoimmune disease. Ever since, he has been on a quest to help patients like her. Andrew received his PhD in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology from USC in 2011. Since then, he’s founded and advised multiple biotech startups, and helps assess novel technologies for several venture funds. Originally from the UK, Andrew came to the US with nothing but a place at UC Berkeley and a rucksack… which the airline lost. In their spare time Andrew and his wife love showing California’s natural wonders to their energetic two-year-old daughter.

Shaun Stiles

Executive Managing Director

Newmark

Shaun Stiles has been actively involved in the Los Angeles commercial real estate industry and in particular in the

life science sector, for over thirty years. He has worked extensively with local life science tenants and landlords to

provide single point of responsibility service. His experience in representing both landlords and tenants, and his

unique understanding of lab space and specific lab requirements has served to provide Shaun with invaluable

knowledge and insight of the industry.

Shaun’s experience representing local life science firms is well documented and his involvement with local

institutions, life science groups and local municipalities give him a competitive advantage over his competition.

Shaun is also actively involved with Biocom, Southern California Biomedical Council, BioSource LA and LA

Biomed.

Enrique Ceniceros

Principal, Project Executive, Science & Technology

Taylor Design

Enrique Ceniceros has over 31 years of experience as an architect and laboratory planner, and more than 11 years of experience as a science and technology leader. His attention to detail and technical expertise makes him a natural leader for design teams, consultants, and owner user groups alike. His clients include universities, biopharmaceutical facilities, R&D laboratories, developers, aerospace facilities, and manufacturing groups. Enrique is passionate about the Life Sciences industry and its growth in the Greater Los Angeles Area and all of Southern California. He spearheaded the creation of the International Institute of Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) in Los Angeles and serves as the chapter’s first president; he believes the life science community needs more platforms to network and collaborate. He was also named one of San Diego's Life Sciences top 50 professionals in 2022 and 2023.

David Arellano

Life Sciences Core Market Leader, SoCal

DPR Construction

David has 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry and an overall 25 years in the construction industry. He started his construction career in the carpentry trades and continued to work as a carpenter while completing his bachelor’s degree in construction management from California State University, Chico. With David’s thorough background in construction, he has an understanding of both design and installations which leads to more of a natural approach to organizing office to field activities. Given David’s years in the industry, he’s had the opportunity to work with many multidisciplinary teams and successfully coordinate these teams amongst the additional technical requirements found in pharmaceutical/biotech projects. David’s Life Sciences experience includes coordination between subject matter experts, design engineers, end users, fabricators, controls hardware designers/installers, and automation software developers. As Core Market Leader, it has afforded David to influence more teams for success and service a larger client pool with the goal of supporting clients to, “Build Great Things!” David is a member of the IOTA IV Chapter of Sigma Lambda Chi Construction Management Honors Society, and Vice President elect for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE).

Opening Remarks by Worksmart Design

Mandy Adams

Mandy Adams

Design Director

Worksmart Design

Jacob Mendrin

Jacob Mendrin

Director of Construction

Worksmart Design

Notable Los Angeles Life Sciences News

Why You Can't Miss This Los Angeles Life Sciences CRE Event

What You'll Learn From LA Commercial Real Estate Leaders: 

  • Talent is critical to the foundation of any life sciences cluster. How do local education and talent generation compare to other West Coast or national institutions and what is being done to retain key talent?

  • With so much competition for capital globally, how is LA securing its slice of the pie? What types of research are being funded and where is there the opportunity to grow? How much manufacturing is taking place locally?

  • At what stage is the current cluster in maturity and what is the path to reaching coastal, national, and global competitiveness?

  • In regards to supply and demand, how important is a project's speed to market, and what innovations in development allow for specialized construction for today’s tenants? When repositioning which assets are being targeted and how are local service providers challenging national companies that specialize in life science?

  • What effect has hybrid/remote work had on research and manufacturing? What technologies are now integral in the workplace?

  • How is Los Angeles supporting its start-up ecosystem? What are the observations of local incubators and co-lab spaces? When graduating, are companies choosing to stay local or move to other clusters? Where is demand continuing to grow?

How You'll Do More Business From Attending This Conference: 

The nation's life science market has seen incredible growth throughout the past 5 years with investors, developers, local governments, and the general public seeing the immense value in scientific research and medical manufacturing. Join Bisnow and stay ahead of the curve by learning how Los Angeles’ life science leaders are developing the cluster of the future.

Who You'll Network With: 

Owners, developers, investors, brokers, city and government officials, business consultants, architects, engineers, lawyers, accountants, bankers, technology companies, and more!

Why You Should Attend:

Bisnow events bring together the biggest power players in the industry to identify opportunities, build your network and expand your business. With the largest audience of commercial real estate professionals in the world, no one knows how to help your business more than us. Join Bisnow as we jump into the market in Los Angeles to analyze its strengths and strategize on its areas of opportunity.

For questions, recommendations, comments, or press inquiries please email our California event producer, Amani Navarrette at Amani.Navarrette@bisnow.com.

Venue

Future Site of Armata Pharmaceuticals
5005 McConnell Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066


There will be limited parking onsite in an underground parking garage, once this fills up attendees will need to utilize street parking
Get Directions

Agenda

Time Activity
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
Opening Networking W/ Coffee and Breakfast
5:00 PM
5:05 PM
Opening Remarks by WorkSmartDesign
5:05 PM
5:50 PM
The State of Life Sciences in Los Angeles

High-Level Discussion on the Development of Today's Regional Cluster

5:50 PM
6:05 PM
Networking Break
6:05 PM
6:50 PM
The Importance of Growth and Building the Community

Discussing the Future of Talent Education, Creating Space, and Scientific Research & Manufacturing

6:50 PM
7:35 PM
Meeting the Demands of SoCal's Leading Tenants

A Deep Dive into the Evolving Needs of End Users and Market Fundamentals

7:35 PM
8:00 PM
Closing Networking

Our Commitment to your Safety

We hosted more than 72,000 attendees live, in-person around the globe in 2021. Our commitment to safety is no different in 2022. Our events follow all local Covid-19 regulations and protocols. In the interest of the safety of all our guests, we recommend taking a rapid or PCR test for proof of negative results before attending any gathering.

We will update attendees should any regulations be updated before this event is held. We look forward to hosting you soon to do what we do best: network, connect, and engage to do more business.