{"id":630294,"date":"2026-03-03T23:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/630294\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T23:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:39:13","slug":"los-angeles-aerospace-and-defense-tenants-are-expanding-wherever-they-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/630294\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Aerospace And Defense Tenants Are Expanding Wherever They Can"},"content":{"rendered":"

When FlightWave Aerospace Systems was looking to expand from 14K SF in Carson<\/a> to more than 50K SF, it had a checklist of wants. The company, which manufactures lightweight drones for intelligence and reconnaissance operations, needed more power than a traditional industrial building could provide, and it also needed high clear heights to accommodate equipment or additional storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To get these things,\u00a0it\u00a0was willing to pay a little bit more, FlightWave President Shawn Webb said. The company ultimately signed a 51K SF, five-year lease for $5.4M in the South Bay city of Torrance<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Courtesy of Colliers\n <\/p>\n

\n The Valencia warehouse where an aerospace company leased 80K SF.\n <\/p>\n

FlightWave is one of several aerospace and defense companies leasing space in Los Angeles\u2019 historic aerospace hubs. Brokers say these tenants are confronting a supply-and-demand issue as they seek to grow and colocate in areas already established for\u00a0the industry,\u00a0forcing them to compromise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest constraint on growth is finding the right buildings,\u201d Zacuto Group<\/a> Executive Vice President Andrew Sinasohn<\/a> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Locally based aerospace and defense occupiers had a solid 2025. According to a Colliers<\/a> report, 34% of the $12B in\u00a0venture capital funding to LA-based companies<\/a>\u00a0went\u00a0to aerospace and defense firms. The U.S. also has\u00a0a nearly trillion-dollar defense budget<\/a>\u00a0that, as several brokers who spoke with Bisnow\u00a0agreed, is largely the fuel for the steady stream of leases that aerospace and defense occupiers are signing in LA-area nodes where these types of tenants have traditionally flocked, such as the South Bay and Santa Clarita Valley in northern LA County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While this funding doesn\u2019t always translate directly into new leases, there has been a constant flow of announcements. In 2025, across 11 of the biggest deals in the South Bay, these types of companies leased over 1.4M SF of space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of these tenants are seeking industrial buildings with higher power capacity than traditional, distribution-focused structures. Like FlightWave, they are looking for high overhead clearance, parking and, for defense occupiers,\u00a0additional security and entry controls. Because of these needs, older buildings from previous eras of manufacturing are\u00a0typically better positioned to match tenants\u2019 checklists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Older buildings or submarkets were built with higher parking ratios because\u00a0of\u00a0an expectation that employees would drive to work every day. They also often have more power capabilities, Colliers Executive Vice President Matt Dierckman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dierckman works in northern LA County and has closed deals in the Santa Clarita Valley and Chatsworth, where he saw these dynamics play out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said power and parking sealed the deal for\u00a0a recent 80K\u00a0SF\u00a0lease for a tenant in Valencia<\/a>, which now has a 300K SF footprint in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many brokers who spoke\u00a0to\u00a0Bisnow\u00a0and work in the space said the volume of companies seeking this kind of industrial flex space and the limited inventory in the areas where they want to be have led some to consider options they might not have otherwise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt creates an incredibly competitive environment for the best space, which ultimately forces people to maybe lease space that may not be deemed to be Class-A because it’s in the right area and checks all the other boxes,\u201d JLL<\/a> Managing Director Mac Burridge said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other companies might have hard-to-meet requirements, things that are easier to add at the beginning of a building\u2019s life rather than after it\u2019s been constructed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aerospace and advanced manufacturing companies that can make an existing facility work will lease those,\u201d Klabin Co. principal Nick Buss said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for those with more specialized needs, new construction often makes the most sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tenants looking for new construction will find a few hubs in the most desirable spots, including in the Long Beach Airport area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This corner of Long Beach\u00a0was once home<\/a>\u00a0to major aerospace and defense companies like McDonnell Douglas and Boeing<\/a>. Now, developers such as Sares Regis Group<\/a> have entitled sites waiting for build-to-suit projects. It\u2019s here that defense company\u00a0Anduril signed a $1B lease<\/a>\u00a0for more than 1M SF in a deal with Sares Regis announced in January. The multibuilding complex \u2014 more than half of which will be office space \u2014 will open in phases, with the first building scheduled to open by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach Airport area has benefited from this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn September of last year, there were between 10 and 15 available buildings in the Long Beach Airport area that had all been marketed for years, and now there are zero,\u201d Sinasohn said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When FlightWave Aerospace Systems was looking to expand from 14K SF in Carson to more than 50K SF,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":588712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[24803,268868,1582,276,124744,268871,2961,224,268867,234635,5337,268869,268866,198916,268870,268865],"class_list":["post-630294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-aerospace","tag-andrew-sinasohn","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-defense-technology","tag-flightwave-aerospace-systems","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-industrial","tag-los-angeles-industrial-market","tag-losangeles","tag-mac-burridge","tag-matt-dierckman","tag-mcdonnell-douglas","tag-nick-buss","tag-the-klabin-co"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116167885947804772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}