Seeking an investment opportunity and a new home, Encino-based Inter/Media Group of Companies recently purchased two Woodland Hills office buildings for an undisclosed amount. The $500 million media and advertising group, which comprises 10 companies and employs 83 in Encino, said it plans to move its headquarters in March. Inter/Media plans to occupy about 20,000 square feet over two floors in the larger of the two buildings, which are located at 22110 and 22120 Clarendon Street, just off of Ventura Boulevard and about eight miles from its current location. Existing tenants — including Essex Property Trust Inc., the seller in the deal, and Montage Insurance Solutions and Richards Packaging — will remain in the buildings, and Inter/Media is making about $2 million worth of property improvements, said Inter/Media CEO Robert Yallen. According to a 2001 assessment by the Los Angeles County Assessor, the properties are valued at $5.29 million. While this is the first commercial buy for Inter/Media, Yallen said there may be more in the future, depending on the company’s growth. “I have been trying to buy a building for literally 25 years,” Yallen said. The CEO said he made the move now because “the market is probably as depressed as it’s going to get.” He noted that he purchased the buildings for roughly what they sold for about 15 years ago. As landlord of the properties, the company can absorb space as needed and control its growth. “We want to control our own destiny,” Yallen said, noting the company hopes to add another 10 workers by the time it vacates its current location. The adjacent buildings have a combined square-footage of roughly 40,000 square feet and are currently 57 percent leased, said Senior Managing Director Bruce Frasco of Commercial Asset Group, who represented Inter/Media. After Inter/Media moves into the space, the buildings will be fully occupied. Market rents for the properties are at $1.70 per square-foot, although Inter/Media’s will rise because of tenant improvements, Frasco said. Essex did not return a call seeking comment. Jared Smits, a vice president with NAI Capital Inc., said most buildings being sold currently are business owners seeking to purchase their own office — with very little institutional investment occurring in the Valley. Because SBA loans are at historically low rates and businesses can put down less than conventional loans, the number of SBA-financed deals has increased this year, he said. Inter/Media is financing the sale and build-out with a combination of a conventional, SBA and bridge loans, Yallen said. Smaller owner-user sales, such as Inter/Media’s purchase, do not put much of a dent in the high office vacancy rate in Woodland Hills, but “those sales are better than having no sales at all,” Smits said. The vacancy rate for-leased space in buildings 25,000 square feet and larger in the Woodland Hills office market stood at 19.4 percent during for the third quarter, a number which has slowly declined this year as Farmers Insurance and Universal Music Group moved in, according to Colliers International. Yallen is quite fond of Inter/Media’s current location by the 405-101 freeway interchange. But after looking for a space to accommodate future growth, the executive said he couldn’t find properties in the 30,000- to 60,000-square-foot range in the area. And while Yallen likes the Encino neighborhood, he said the current offices are too small, old and inconvenient because they are spread out across three floors. The new headquarters will be a more modern, open space, designed to mimic a sound wave in look and feel — a nod to the company’s creative culture.