El Segundo's Standard Works campus to add more offices

Smoky Hollow Industries and LIMO, LP, owners of the Standard Works Campus, are hoping to kick off the new year by bringing more office space to the Smoky Hollow District just north of the sprawling oil refinery which birthed the City of El Segundo.

The Standard Works Campus, which spans roughly six-acre block bounded by El Segundo Boulevard, Franklin Avenue, and Oregon Street, is a mix of new construction and historic buildings that have been home to companies such as Beyond Meat, Homedics, ABL Space Systems, Saviynt, and ONEHOPE Wine. As of 2020, the developers were at work on an initial expansion of the complex - a new three-story edifice built above an existing brick structure facing Oregon Street that features 60,000 square feet of offices on its upper floors and 20,000 square feet of commercial space at street level.

The next additions to the property, referred to as the North and South Sites, would create a combined total of approximately 130,000 square feet of new offices, as well as a new coffee kiosk and a pocket park.

Plans for the North site, located at 1320 E. Franklin Avenue, call for retaining approximately 19,500 square feet of commercial uses in an existing brick building, while adding more than 45,500 square feet of new space in two floors above. The resulting project would include more than 65,000 square feet of office space, as well as the proposed coffee shop and pocket park. A total of 168 parking stalls would be provided for the new building, including 38 spaces in a surface lot and 130 stalls in an existing garage.

The South site, located at 1475 E. El Segundo Boulevard, is also improved with a one-story brick edifice featuring roughly 19,300 square feet of space. Plans call for retaining the existing building, while adding two new floors to create nearly 64,000 square feet of offices. Parking for 165 vehicles is slated for the El Segundo Boulevard property, including 42 stalls in a surface lot and 123 spaces in an existing garage.

The design of the new construction, similar to the earlier building located on Oregon Streets, is described as having a "contemporary industrial aesthetic," with exposed steel, exposed concrete masonry block walls, large balconies, and reused red brick and. Roughly 23,500 square feet of open space would knit the site together, including the proposed park, a network of pedestrian walkways, and a series of amenity decks for use by tenants.

Construction of the North and South sites is expected to kick off in January or February of 2022, according to an initial study published by the City of El Segundo. Completion of the North site is expected within 14.5 months, while the South site would be finished in roughly 17 months.

The Smoky Hollow District, which was rezoned by the City of El Segundo to foster new offices and other commercial uses, was named for the smoke that once billowed into the area from the neighboring oil refinery. The neighborhood originally developed with businesses that support the operations of the refinery, and later played host companies in the aerospace industry.

• Smoky Hollow (Urbanize LA)