Elon Musk started SpaceX in a small building at 1310 E. Grand Avenue in El Segundo in 2002.
A short distance away, another aerospace company was already manufacturing equipment used by the world’s largest airlines.
Now that company has converted part of its longtime real estate holdings into approximately $34.3 million.
SATCO Inc. sold four industrial buildings in El Segundo’s Smoky Hollow district to Smoky Hollow Industries LLC, a local real estate company led by developer Mark Telesz.
The transaction closed July 16, 2026.
The deal
The portfolio includes:
- 120 Kansas Street
- 140 Kansas Street
- 1591 E. El Segundo Boulevard
- 1601 E. El Segundo Boulevard
Together, the properties contain approximately 79,383 square feet of buildings on 130,268 square feet of land, or 2.99 contiguous acres.
The $34.3 million purchase price works out to approximately:
- $432 per building square foot
- $263 per land square foot
- Nearly three contiguous acres
- Four industrial and flex buildings
The properties were on the market for approximately 143 days.
SATCO has been here since 1968
SATCO was founded by Robert Looker in 1968 and continues to describe itself as a family-owned and operated company.
It designs and manufactures the specialized containers, pallets, nets and cargo equipment used inside commercial passenger and cargo aircraft.
Its products support major airlines and delivery companies moving freight around the world.
SATCO’s headquarters has been located at 1601 E. El Segundo Boulevard, the largest building included in this sale.
This transaction covers four buildings, but it does not necessarily mean SATCO is leaving the city. Whether the company will remain under a lease, consolidate into other facilities or relocate part of its operations has not been confirmed.
Four buildings, four different values
The largest building, 1601 E. El Segundo Boulevard, contains 31,565 square feet and was allocated a price of approximately $13.35 million, or $423 per square foot.
The 21,669-square-foot building at 120 Kansas Street was allocated approximately $9.16 million, also about $423 per square foot.
The newer 14,058-square-foot building at 1591 E. El Segundo Boulevard was allocated approximately $5.26 million, or $374 per square foot.
The smallest building, 140 Kansas Street, received the highest allocation. The 12,089-square-foot property was valued at approximately $6.53 million, or $540 per square foot.
The different allocations may reflect land area, building condition, parking, access or how the total price was divided for recording purposes.
The SpaceX effect
SpaceX was not involved in this transaction.
But its influence on El Segundo and the surrounding South Bay is difficult to ignore.
Musk started the company nearby before moving its major manufacturing operation to Hawthorne. SpaceX then trained a generation of engineers, founders and executives who went on to start new aerospace, defense and advanced-manufacturing companies.
Many of those businesses returned to El Segundo.
Today, Smoky Hollow is attracting companies working on rockets, satellites, drones, defense systems, nuclear technology and advanced manufacturing.
SpaceX did not single-handedly make SATCO’s land worth $34.3 million. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, RTX, The Aerospace Corporation and generations of smaller manufacturers helped establish the South Bay’s aerospace economy long before Musk arrived.
The buyer already knows the neighborhood
The buyer may be the most important part of the story.
Smoky Hollow Industries is led by Mark Telesz, a local developer who has already repositioned multiple properties throughout the district.
The company has converted older industrial buildings into modern research, development and creative space.
Telesz and his partners have worked on the Standard Works campus, which has attracted tenants including Beyond Meat and ABL Space Systems. ABL was founded by former SpaceX employees and established a major presence in El Segundo.
This was not an outside investor making its first South Bay acquisition.
Credit to the brokers
The CBRE team of Bob Healey, Richard Melbye, John Lane and Georgia Bennett marketed the four-property campus and successfully brought the portfolio transaction to closing. We should talk and learn more about opportunities showing up.
Selling four adjoining industrial buildings as one campus requires more than placing separate properties on the market. The team had to communicate the value of the entire assembly: nearly three acres, multiple building types and several potential paths for an investor, developer or owner-user.
The result was a $34.3 million transaction with a buyer that already understands the neighborhood and has experience repositioning Smoky Hollow properties.
That is a strong outcome for a specialized asset with a limited group of logical buyers.
What an operator sees
At approximately $432 per building square foot, this was not an obviously inexpensive industrial acquisition.
But Smoky Hollow Industries acquired more than 79,383 square feet of existing buildings.
The buyer gained control of almost three contiguous acres in a part of El Segundo where assembling land is difficult.
That ownership creates several possibilities.
The buildings could remain manufacturing and warehouse space. They could be divided among multiple tenants also.
SATCO spent nearly six decades building an aerospace business in El Segundo. During that time, the land beneath part of its operation became a $34.3 million asset.
Now a local developer is betting that the next chapter will be worth even more.
Watch who buys the dirt when legacy manufacturers sell. That is often where the next chapter of a neighborhood begins.
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