Long Beach Seeks Aerospace Developer for Land Near Airport

Wanted: Builder to redevelop a 17-acre parking lot and slice of Long Beach Airport for aeronautical use.

The City of Long Beach has issued a request for proposals to develop the lot and airfield at East Wardlow Road and Globemaster Way, the Long Beach Business Journal reported.

For decades, the 11-acre parking lot on the east side of the airport has been leased by Boeing and Mercedes-Benz for parking. The airfield portion includes 6 acres between Globemaster Way and Taxiway D, next to an airport runway.

Aerospace is the fastest-growing business sector in a city long known for its aerospace roots.

“All the stars are aligned — no pun intended — and great things are gonna happen,” Bo Martinez, economic development director for Long Beach, told the Business Journal.

The property, known as the Wardlow Parcel, sits next to 90 acres of land previously owned by Boeing, where it manufactured the C-17 military cargo plane and other aircraft.

The city will accept proposals from aerospace companies, which will be evaluated based on a list of criteria, including “economic and workforce development benefits,” airport spokeswoman Kate Kuykendall told the newspaper in an email.

“The objective … is to select a qualified developer, through a lease agreement, that aligns with the airport’s vision of enhancing the aeronautical services throughout the region,” Kuykendall said, adding that a proposal could incorporate non-aeronautical use subject to airport staff review and approval.

Airport staff expects a proposal, due April 2, to go before the City Council this fall, adding to an aviation complex that generates $8.6 billion in economic impact and supports 46,000 jobs, according to the RFP.

Long Beach has been an aerospace hub for a century, with Long Beach Airport founded 100 years ago as the first municipally owned airfield in Southern California. Douglas Aircraft, based in the city, played a critical role in plane production during World War II.

The company, which became McDonnell Douglas, merged with Boeing in 1997, whose final C-17 Globemaster III came off the line in November 2015. At the same time, Virgin Galactic — which became the now-defunct Virgin Orbit — moved into Douglas Park.

In 2021, Australia-based Goodman Group leased its largest hangar to Relativity Space, a satellite launch provider developing the world’s first fully 3D-printed rocket.

Since then, a host of space and aviation companies have moved to Long Beach, including Rocket Lab, SpinLaunch and Relativity Space. In the last year, the sector has exploded with JetZero, Vast, Aevum, ExLabs, AIBOT and Auriga, among others that call Long Beach home, according to the Business Journal.

— Dana Bartholomew