Los Angeles Aerospace And Defense Tenants Are Expanding Wherever They Can

When FlightWave Aerospace Systems was looking to expand from 14K SF in Carson 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. 

To get these things, it was 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. 

FlightWave is one of several aerospace and defense companies leasing space in Los Angeles’ 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 the industry, forcing them to compromise. 

“The biggest constraint on growth is finding the right buildings,” Zacuto Group Executive Vice President Andrew Sinasohn said. 

Locally based aerospace and defense occupiers had a solid 2025. According to a Colliers report, 34% of the $12B in venture capital funding to LA-based companies went to aerospace and defense firms. The U.S. also has a nearly trillion-dollar defense budget that, as several brokers who spoke with Bisnow agreed, 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. 

While this funding doesn’t 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. 

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, additional security and entry controls. Because of these needs, older buildings from previous eras of manufacturing are typically better positioned to match tenants’ checklists. 

Older buildings or submarkets were built with higher parking ratios because of an expectation that employees would drive to work every day. They also often have more power capabilities, Colliers Executive Vice President Matt Dierckman said. 

Dierckman works in northern LA County and has closed deals in the Santa Clarita Valley and Chatsworth, where he saw these dynamics play out. 

He said power and parking sealed the deal for a recent 80K SF lease for a tenant in Valencia, which now has a 300K SF footprint in the city. 

Many brokers who spoke to Bisnow and 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. 

“It 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,” JLL Managing Director Mac Burridge said. 

Other companies might have hard-to-meet requirements, things that are easier to add at the beginning of a building’s life rather than after it’s been constructed. 

“The aerospace and advanced manufacturing companies that can make an existing facility work will lease those,” Klabin Co. principal Nick Buss said. 

But for those with more specialized needs, new construction often makes the most sense. 

Tenants looking for new construction will find a few hubs in the most desirable spots, including in the Long Beach Airport area. 

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

The Long Beach Airport area has benefited from this. 

“In 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,” Sinasohn said.