Palmer Luckey’s defense firm Anduril signs mega-lease for The Press in Costa Mesa
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm launched by the founder of Oculus, has leased a big piece of Orange County’s commercial real estate.
The company founded in 2017 by the tech mogul Palmer Luckey will move its headquarters from Irvine to the former Los Angeles Times printing facility in Costa Mesa in 2022. Terms of the lease were not disclosed by the company or the brokerages that negotiated the deal.
Anduril has leased the entire 24-acre site, which for years has been under development as a potential mixed-use workplace called The Press. The concept included room for multiple tenants and a food hall.
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
Anduril Industries, a defense tech firm created by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, is moving its headquarters to the former LA Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, now known as a mixed-use development called The Press. The 24-acre compound near IKEA was pitched as a multi-tenant campus but now will be occupied exclusively by Anduril. The company plans to add a 200,000-square-foot research and development building. (Courtesy of Invesco and SteelWave)
In addition to the existing, 432,000-square-foot building, Anduril plans to add a 200,000 square foot research and development building.
In a blog post at Medium.com, Chief Operating Officer Matt Grimm said in-office work would play a big role in the company’s post-pandemic future.
“Anduril will continue to embrace a flexible work environment for our employees,” he wrote. “However, we believe a central headquarters and in-office work will be critical to the success of Anduril and our team.
He described the company as one that “sits in a unique intersection between technology and defense.”
The company’s HQ will include a software development team, flight test engineers and hardware engineers “who need access to materials, workshops and testing environments that aren’t available remotely,” Grimm said. “Most importantly, there’s a dynamic among our teams that collaborate best when they are hands-on and face-to-face solving problems.”
The property on Sunflower Avenue near Harbor Boulevard sold for $65 million in 2017 to a joint venture that includes Invesco Real Estate and SteelWave, the developer behind The Hive. That mixed-use compound is adjacent to the LA Times property. SteelWave also owns the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice facility in the city.
Anduril, named after the sword in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and its 330 Orange County employees will continue to work in the redesigned former home of St. John Knits at 2722 Michelson. The company plans to move to its new headquarters, which has room for up to 2,500 employees, in early 2022. Co-founders of the firm include its CEO Brian Schimpf, Trae’ Stephens, Matt Grimm and Joe Chen. Investors of the privately held firm include Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, 8VC and Andreessen Horowitz.
Luckey, a Long Beach native who now has a mansion in Newport Beach, launched Oculus in 2012 when he was 19 years old. The Irvine startup co-founded with Brendan Iribe developed a virtual-reality headset called the Oculus Rift, which was bought by Facebook for $3 billion in 2014. Luckey left Facebook in 2017. He has since been developing a defense system to patrol borders and other defense initiatives.
He also bought a local marina in 2017. The Huntington Harbour Bay Club on Warner Avenue sold for more than $34 million, according to CoStar Group, a commercial database. The buyer was Zeal Palace LP, in partnership with Fiendlord’s Keep. Both ventures were tied to Luckey, who was listed as president of Fiendlord in state records.
In October, Luckey hosted President Donald Trump for a fundraiser at his Newport Beach home. The tech mogul has given generously to Republican campaigns. In late 2020, he gave more than $1.7 million combined to Trump, GOP committees and Republicans running for targeted seats, such as Michelle Steel in CA-48 and Young Kim in CA-39.
