Link to Article: https://urbanize.la/post/new-rd-facility-unveiled-el-segundos-smoky-hollow-district

JANUARY 08, 2019, 3:00PM        STEVEN SHARP

Smoky Hollow Industries and LIMO, LP have unveiled new details for their proposed research and development facility at the Standard Works Campus in El Segundo.

The project will include the construction of a three-story building at 136-142 Oregon Street in the Smoky Hollow District, which will feature 60,000 square feet of research space on its upper floors and 20,000 square feet of retail and the ground level.

Balian Architects is designing the project, which will retain the shell of an existing light brick industrial building which dates to the 1950s. 

Construction is expected to conclude in mid-2020.

The Standard Works Campus will ultimately be developed with 200,000 square feet of rentable space under the agreement signed earlier this year between LIMO Company - which assembled the six-acre property in phases between 1950 and 1970 – and Smoky Hollow Industries.

A building at 1301 E. El Segundo Boulevard has already been converted into approximately 30,000 square feet of research space, and construction the property is adding a four-story, 800-car parking structure that will open in mid-2019.

The campus is currently home to companies including Beyond Meat, Homedics, ABL Space Systems, Saviynt, and ONEHOPE Wine.

The City of El Segundo has pushed for new developments in this vein through its Smoky Hollow Specific Plan, a 120-acre district bounded by Sepulveda Boulevard, El Segundo Boulevard, Main Street, and Holly Avenue.  In addition to fostering new offices and research facilities, the city has also sought to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment with wider sidewalks and street furniture.

The name “Smoky Hollow” references the very origins of the City of El Segundo, which took its name in the early 20th century from its status as home to “the second,” Standard Oil refinery on the West Coast.  In the early days if the refinery operation, smoke from the refinery billowed into what is now known as the Smoky Hollow area.  Many of the buildings which now stand in the district were built as support facilities for the refinery, as well as the aerospace industry in later years.