Tesla Renews Lease at Santa Monica Service Center

Elon Musk’s Tesla is doubling down on its 82,000-square-foot service center in Santa Monica.

The Austin-based electric vehicle carmaker renewed its lease for the two-story industrial building at 1100 Colorado Avenue, L.A. Business First and Commercial Observer reported. The lease starts in January.

Terms of the lease with Culver City-based Thompson Properties were not disclosed.

Brokers Michael Collins and Dustin Hullinger of Daum Commercial Real Estate Services represented the landlord.

Demand for industrial properties in Santa Monica, West Los Angeles and South L.A. is on the rise, with the vacancy rate ticking down to 5 percent in the first quarter, according to Daum.

“The industrial market in West and South Los Angeles continues to exhibit solid fundamentals,” Collins said in a statement.

“With little new supply coming online, the demand imbalance enabled us to negotiate renewals with favorable terms for our clients.”

Tesla’s ties to the Westside date back nearly two decades. In 2008, the company opened its first dealership at 11163 Santa Monica Boulevard, which remains open as a service center.

Musk’s companies have been in exodus from the Golden State in recent years.

Last year, the billionaire moved SpaceX headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to near Brownsville, Texas. A few months later, his X social media platform relocated from San Francisco to Austin.

Still, Tesla continues to invest in California. In 2023, the company leased two of three industrial Westcore buildings in Livermore.

Meanwhile, Tesla is finishing up construction at Tesla Diner, its EV charge-and-dine prototype in Hollywood. An opening date for the concept, located at 7001 Santa Monica Boulevard, is yet to be announced.

The trillion-dollar company remains the world’s second-largest EV maker behind China’s BYD and maintains a Fremont facility considered the largest automobile plant in North America.

— Chris Malone Méndez