Aerospace Firm Moves to Valencia from No. Hollywood; Good Vibe

Aerospace company Air Bolt Group of North Hollywood signed a 10-year lease in March for an 8,500 square foot building on Avenue Crocker in the Valencia Industrial Center. NAI Capital helped broker the deal. Additional terms of the lease were not disclosed. Air Bolt manufactures latches, struts, buts and bolts for commercial aircraft.

The Air Bolt Group spent the past couple of months making minor upgrades to a building which “already fit their needs,” said its owner. The building’s owner, however, was installing new flooring and carpets for the May 1 grand opening.

“We specifically wanted to be in Santa Clarita because we’re seeing growth in the aerospace industries here and want to be part of it,” said CEO Oscar Ramirez. “We’re in negotiations with a company to become one of their suppliers – Aerospace Dynamics Inc. One of our largest customers, Avibank Manufacturing, is one of their customers.” Both Avibank of North Hollywood and ADI of Valencia are part of the Oregon-based Precision Castparts Corp.

Re-Focusing
Launched in 1995; Ramirez took over the company last year from his father and renamed it Air Bolt, re-branding it and changing the firm’s focus, he said. Focusing on greater profitability, he minimized the company’s second shift and hired a sales rep – something the firm didn’t have before. Marketing the company made a lot of sense to him, he said, because there are a lot of aerospace companies in Santa Clarita.

“Our lease was up on our (North Hollywood) building, so we definitely had to look for space. The building was sold and the new owners wanted to use the building,” Ramirez said.

And while the company did look for a new location in San Fernando Valley, Ramirez was also eyeing the aerospace market in Santa Clarita, and his wife Melissa – with children enrolled in private school – had heard about the good schools in the SCV, he said. The move to Santa Clarita also means most of his 20 employees will still be able to commute to the new location. But finding a place locally required some help.

“We met with Holly (Schroeder) and Jim (Brown) from the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp. They showed us the incentives available in moving out here and put us in contact with a broker,” Ramirez said. “If it wasn’t for them, it might have been 50/50 that we have moved out here. We did meet with other organizations in the San Fernando Valley but just didn’t get the same vibe or form of help.”

Schroeder said the company is probably also a candidate for an industry attraction incentive.