Hughes Space, DirectTV Lease Renovated Aerospace Building

A former aerospace building in El Segundo that sat vacant for more than nine years has been fully leased about one month after a Brentwood firm completed a $10-million renovation of the property.

Brentwood-based Proficiency Capital leased the 157,000-square-foot building at 2300 Imperial Highway to Hughes Space & Communications Co. and its DirectTV satellite-TV unit, according to Jeff Trenton, president of Proficiency. Hughes will occupy 82,000 square feet, and DirectTV will occupy the remaining 75,000, Trenton said.

The two leases are for more than five years each and have a combined value of about $35 million, according to Grafton Tanquary of CB Richard Ellis, who represented parent firm Hughes Electronics in partnership with Hughes Real Estate. John Ayoob, also of CB Richard Ellis, represented Proficiency.

Proficiency purchased the eight-story building a year ago for more than $9 million from the Albert Levinson Trust, Tanquary said, noting that the building had remained empty because it was “virtually unleasable” before the renovation since it was outdated and contained asbestos.

The building was constructed in 1963 and was occupied by North American Rockwell before the defense industry slowdown.