A commercial real estate shakeup is underway.
Goleta-based Inogen, which makes oxygen therapy products, has leased 17,900 square feet at 859 Ward Drive, near Highway 217.
Inogen is right-sizing its company, moving from the 50,000-square-foot property at 301 Coromar Drive in Goleta.
Inogen is moving out of the space that will be occupied early next year by Sonos, a wireless audio technology giant.
Sonos is moving from its Santa Barbara offices in the Funk Zone and on Chapala Street to the Cabrillo Business Park, 301 Coromar Drive. Sonos, as Noozhawk first reported, is looking to consolidate its offices and move into a smaller space.
Francois DeJohn, a commercial real estate broker with Hayes Commercial Group, was on both sides of the deal, representing Hayes and the Inogen landlord, Majestic. Insiders say that Inogen could have left the South Coast entirely, but the company staying is a good sign.
Hayes Commercial Group handled another big recent office transaction.
Software company Invoca has subleased 419 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara to Umbra Space. It’s a 27,700-square-foot building.
Umbra Space, which makes microsatellites, had been at 27 E. Cota St. DeJohn and Kristopher Roth of Hayes Commercial Group represented Invoca in the transaction.
Invoca let many of its employees work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has recently decided to make its business fully remote, except for an IT office.
Invoca provides artificial-intelligence-powered call tracking and analytics for marketers.
“We have been working with Invoca since the early days, and it’s been exciting to see their growth and success,” DeJohn said in a statement. “As you might expect, subleasing large tech office space is especially challenging in this era of remote work, so were pleased to get this deal done and help them remove a significant expense from their balance sheet.”
Umbra Space has had offices in Santa Barbara, Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
According to Hayes’ midyear report, Raytheon signed a five-year renewal on 121,100 square feet at 75 Coromar Drive in the first quarter of the year. Seek Thermal renewed its 30,800-square-foot office/research and development space at 6300 Hollister Ave.
In addition, cannabis distribution startup Herbl ceased operations in Goleta and is vacating 749 Ward Drive, according to Hayes.
The Goleta office vacancy rate was 10.3% at the end of the second quarter of the year.
“It’s hard to predict which direction it will head in Q3,” according to Hayes. “What remains clear is there are many large pieces of the Goleta office puzzle in motion, certainly more so than we anticipated six months ago.”