County of Napa purchased the Dey Labs campus in south Napa in December 2013 and plans to outfit it for its Health and Human Services Agency by mid-2015. (image courtesy of Bill Kampton of Colliers International)

County of Napa buys Dey Labs campus

NAPA — The county of Napa said it completed its acquisition of the 25-acre former Dey Laboratories, which will be renovated for a new base of operations for county health services that are expanding because of health care reform and state responsibilities shifting to the county.

County government completed the purchase Thursday of 350,000-square-foot campus from Pittsburgh-based Mylan Inc. for $25 million in cash and has started a six- to nine-month design process for a $15 million transform of 150,000 square feet into offices for the county's Health and Human Services Agency by mid- to late 2015, according to Steve Lederer, Public Works Department director.

"Between the Affordable Care Act and other Health & Human Services programs being evolved from state responsibility to county responsibility, there is an increase in head count that is going to happen whether the county purchased the campus or not," Mr. Lederer said Friday.

TLCD Architecture of Santa Rosa is developing plans for the tenant improvements of 150,000 square feet the county agency is set to occupy at the campus, located on Napa Valley Corporate Drive at Napa Valley Corporate Way. Construction is envisioned to start late next year and be complete by early 2015.

The county board of supervisors started moving forward with the purchase earlier this year. Mylan announced in mid-2012 that it would shut down the Napa plant this year, a decision five years coming.

Bill Kampton of Colliers International is marketing the remaining 200,000 square feet of the campus for lease. Available are 150,000 square feet in two high-clear-height warehouses, of the type in high demand in southern Napa Valley these days, and a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing "minicampus." That building had labs, offices as well as storage and shipping capabilities, such as truck docks.

Funds for the Dey Labs campus purchase came from the county's Accumulated Capital Outlay Fund. Money for the campus has been set aside for about a decade, according to Mr. Lederer.

The Health and Human Services Agency currently occupies three historic buildings and modular buildings on a four-acre site on Old Solano Road. That property likely will be sold after the move, according to Mr. Lederer.

Two years ago, the county had explored renovating that campus at a cost of $76 million.

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