UPDATED, Dec. 2, 2021, 2:53 p.m.: An El Segundo-based aerospace startup has grown its footprint there ten-fold with a new 100,000-square-foot lease, The Real Deal has learned.
ABL Space Systems leased the entire building at 140 Oregon Street, sources told The Real Deal. CBRE’s John Lane announced and brokered the deal, but did not disclose the tenant. The firm’s co-founder Dan Piemont confirmed the deal to The Real Deal in an email.
“We love El Segundo,” Piemont said. “We’re really excited to continue growing here.”
The building is owned by Smoky Hollow Industries — a limited liability company with headquarters in Manhattan Beach, records show. Smoky Hollow worked with LIMO to build the research and development facility.
ABL Space Systems was founded by former SpaceX and Morgan Stanley employees in 2017, and is developing low-cost rockets to launch satellites. It has been operating from headquarters in a 9,800-square-foot building in the same office complex at 224 Oregon Street. The additional lease comes about a month after the firm signed a deal with the Port of Long Beach to build a spacecraft processing facility across eight acres of land on a pier at the port.
ABL Space System’s growth spurt follows a $200 million Series B funding round, led by T. Rowe Price-advised funds and Fidelity Management.
Historically, El Segundo has been home to a number of aerospace firms, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and The Aerospace Corporation. In recent years, space startups like Slingshot Aerospace and ABL have moved into the area.
“GPS was invented in El Segundo, satellites were invented in El Segundo,” Mayor Drew Boyles told The Real Deal in September. “Space and aerospace defense has always been a critical part of our economic base.”
The city of El Segundo does have to compete with Long Beach to attract these aerospace startups. In June, Relativity Space — a manufacturer of 3D-printed rockets — leased around 1 million square feet at a former Boeing manufacturing facility in Long Beach.
This story has been updated to include comments from ABL Space Systems co-founder Dan Piemont.