A 1980s office complex next to the 110 freeway in Downtown Los Angeles is slated for a conversion to a life sciences campus, reports CoStar.

BEP Helix, a company run by local biotech investor Ben Pouladian, is reportedly purchasing the leasehold interest in Park DTLA, the five-building, 280,000-square-foot office park at 2nd and Figueroa Streets. Following the conversion, the property would be rebranded as Helix LA.

Since 2015, Park DTLA has been under the control Rising Realty Partners, which paid a reported $16.5 million for the leasehold interest. The land itself is owned by CRA/LA, and leased to Bunker Hill Park Ltd. under a deal which is scheduled to expire in 2077.

Helix is the latest in a string of projects which aim to establish Los Angeles as a hub for the bioscience industry. While the sector accounts for a reported 100,000 jobs in the region, Los Angeles nonetheless lags behind regional rivals San Francisco and San Diego.

City and county officials, cognizant of that gap (and the high wages commanded by bioscience industry jobs), have looked to establish new life sciences campuses at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and near the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Plaza Mall. Likewise, an incubator for life sciences startups recently made its debut on a County-owned site in Culver City.

Other private firms are also eyeing the same opportunity as BEP Helix, such as HATCHspaces and NexCore Group, which recently announced plans for a life sciences-oriented office building near the intersection of Pico and Sepulveda BOulevards in West Los Angeles.