A vacant college campus on Sierra Highway in Lancaster has a new owner and a new purpose. NewGen Health has purchased the 87,600-square-foot former University of Antelope Valley property for $14.4 million, with plans to turn the site into a regional healthcare and social services hub for the High Desert.
The buyer entity behind the deal, 44049 Sierra Hwy Propco LLC, closed on the 6.4-acre campus at roughly $164 per square foot, according to RENtv. As The Real Deal reports, NewGen Health plans to operate the campus as a branch offering community support services, workforce development programs and administrative assistance to clients, while partnering with Los Angeles County on additional community and social services. The buyer was drawn to the property's flexible layout, existing infrastructure and zoning, the outlet notes.
DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services brokered the sale, and the same broker has now handled the property twice. Vice President Dennis Marciniak represented the University of Antelope Valley in this year's disposition after also representing the school when it originally purchased the site in 2010, per the report from RENtv. Marciniak said the campus has demonstrated its ability to evolve from hospitality to higher education and into a community resource, according to the same outlet.
From Hotel to Classrooms to Clinics
The Sierra Highway property has changed identities more than once. It was originally developed as a hotel and restaurant complex before being converted into a college campus, and the site was expanded in 2010 after that conversion, according to DAUM Commercial. Before its 2024 shutdown, the campus encompassed multiple buildings featuring administrative offices, classrooms, student housing, meeting rooms, commercial kitchens, a restaurant and a large ballroom, the listing details show.
The University of Antelope Valley traced its own roots to a medical mission. The school was established in 1997 as Antelope Valley Medical College by retired Los Angeles City firefighter and paramedic Marco Johnson and his wife Sandra, initially offering CPR, first aid and emergency medical technician training out of a 500-square-foot space, according to the Los Angeles Times. The school later received degree-granting accreditation in 2009.
A Rapid Collapse After a Corporate Takeover
The university's fortunes turned after Singapore-based edtech firm Genius Group Limited acquired it in July 2022 following its NYSE American initial public offering, with plans to establish a digital Metaversity campus, per Wikipedia's summary of the university's history. That ambition gave way to severe financial trouble. On February 29, 2024, the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education issued an emergency decision ordering the university to immediately cease instruction and operations, according to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, known as WSCUC, which documented that regulators acted after finding operating expenses significantly exceeded revenues.
That closure left the sprawling campus empty for roughly two years before this sale. NewGen Health's arrival marks the property's transition from an accredited university back toward the medical-focused mission its founders originally envisioned in 1997.
NewGen Health's Growing California Footprint
NewGen Health is not a small operator making a first foray into the Antelope Valley. Its administrative arm, Los Angeles-based NewGen Administrative Services LLC, led by CFO Shawn Zhou, provides operational support to healthcare providers across California and secured $4.4 million in grant funding from Health Net in March, according to a listing on Jobright.ai. NewGen Administrative Services was established in 2019, per the same listing.
The company has also been expanding aggressively through acquisitions. NewGen Health completed a $1 billion bankruptcy court deal in January to acquire 175 nursing home properties from Genesis HealthCare, a transaction approved during federal bankruptcy proceedings, according to RamaOnHealthcare. The Lancaster purchase adds a California community services outpost to that expanding portfolio.
Why the High Desert Needs the Help
The Antelope Valley's health care access gaps help explain the timing of the deal. Los Angeles County Service Planning Area 1, which covers the Antelope Valley, reports among the highest rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency department visits in the county, with 27.9% of residents enrolled in Medi-Cal as of 2024, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The region trails most county subregions on primary care access metrics, the center's data shows.
Geography compounds the problem. Spanning more than 1,350 square miles, the Antelope Valley has 26% of working residents commuting an hour or more to work, nearly double the Los Angeles County average, while public transit usage stands at just 1%, according to Neighborhood Data for Social Change. Those extreme commute times negatively affect residents' physical and mental wellness, the research notes.
Exactly how much of the campus's dormitory space and commercial kitchens will be repurposed for social support programs, and on what timeline, remains unclear. Neither NewGen Health nor Los Angeles County has detailed the precise scope of services planned for the Sierra Highway site.
