Industrial complex.

Kearny Real Estate Co. LLC is tilting the walls on a new phase of its Century Business Center industrial office complex next to Hawthorne Airport.

Los Angeles-based Kearny, in partnership with a Morgan Stanley real estate fund, bought the industrial complex in 2005 from Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. for $65 million. Since then the partnership has rehabilitated the 86-acre complex and is now is adding 21 buildings at a cost of $45 million. It is slated to be completed by January and will include buildings that range in size from 5,700 to 20,700 square feet.

The buildings, which are targeted at smaller, high-end industrial users, are priced at about $225 per square foot, said Hoonie Kang, a partner with Kearny.

"A lot of owners in the beach communities are getting priced out of their own communities, with prices in Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach in the $500 to $600 a foot range," said Kang.

All of the existing buildings at the business center, which total about 785,000 square feet, have been sold or leased to various businesses, including a rocket manufacturer and a car racing team.

Kearny controls Hawthorne Airport through a ground lease it negotiated with the City of Hawthorne in 2005.

Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone], ext. 263.