El Segundo-based Ocean West Capital Partners and North Carolina-based Barings acquired the Smoky Hollow Flex Campus, a 152,000-square-foot flex industrial campus in El Segundo for an undisclosed sum.

The property sits on 5.1 acres and was purchased in an off-market transaction.
It was originally built in the 1960s as a research and development facility for Wyle Laboratories Inc.

The campus, according to Ocean West, represents “a rare contiguous block of available space in one of the most highly desired industrial markets in Southern California.”
The company plans to spend millions of dollars to reposition the property as a premier campus catering to the aerospace, defense, technology, life sciences and entertainment industries.

The updates would include new parking facilities, outdoor spaces and the construction of an additional building.
“This off-market flex industrial acquisition of the Smoky Hollow Flex Campus is a perfect representation of Ocean West’s investment thesis in today’s post-Covid environment,” Ryan Tucker, principal at Ocean West Capital Partners, said in a statement.

“The flex campus will be an ideal home for companies in the defense, aerospace, automotive, entertainment, and biotech industries that want to provide their workers with an innovative and collaborative work environment while at the same time offering modern manufacturing and R&D space,” he added.

Chris Black, Barings’ head of real estate acquisitions, Western U.S., called the acquisition “a prime example of Barings’ value-add real estate investment strategy which focuses on creating uniquely competitive real estate that attracts innovative tenants.”

Ocean West is active in El Segundo and currently owns a multitenant office building at 777 Aviation Blvd. A joint venture between Ocean West and Lionstone Investments purchased the property in 2019 for $170 million.