After nearly 60 years, Van Nuys-based Clay Lacy Aviation is exiting the flying business.
Petaluma-based Sunset Aviation, which does business as Solairus Aviation, announced on Aug. 7 that it has agreed to purchase the aircraft management and charter divisions of Clay Lacy Aviation for an undisclosed sum. According to Solairus, the acquisition is set to close at the end of September.
From that point forward, Clay Lacy Aviation will focus on its ground-based aircraft service and maintenance operations as well as its real estate holdings.
“These businesses remain strong, important and full of opportunity. They are central to the next chapter of Clay Lacy, and we are excited about their potential,” Brian Kirkdoffer, board chair and owner of Clay Lacy Aviation, said in the announcement.
The deal will mark the end of an era for Clay Lacy Aviation, which was founded in 1968 by private aviation business pioneer Clay Lacy, who turns 94 this month. During his long career, Lacy has flown more than 300 aircraft types and accumulated more than 50,000 flight hours. In 2010, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Lacy also helped to develop the Astrovision camera system, which has been used in more than 2,800 movies, including “Armageddon” and “Top Gun.”
When it was founded, Clay Lacy Aviation was the first executive charter service in the Western United States.
In 2012, Lacy handed the reins over to Kirkdoffer, who had started at the company as a pilot and development executive in 1990. Kirkdoffer grew the company to a bi-coastal operation, leading merger efforts with Oxford, Connecticut-based Key Air in 2016.
As of this spring, Clay Lacy Aviation managed a fleet of 140 aircraft. The company has four primary base locations offering both maintenance and charter services, including at Van Nuys Airport, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana/Costa Mesa, Waterbury/Oxford Airport in Oxford, Connecticut and Boeing Field/King County International Airport in Seattle. It also has charter management operations at three dozen airports around the country.
Last year, the company had across its network 1,945 flight departures with a total of 5,163 passengers on board aircraft it managed.
Solairus currently manages approximately 360 aircraft from more than 100 base locations across North America, according to the announcement. When Clay Lacy Aviation’s 140 aircraft are added to that mix, the total of roughly 500 aircraft would create the largest managed private aircraft fleet in the world, the announcement said.
“With this transaction, Solairus solidifies its position as the leading pure-play aircraft management company in the world,” Dan Drohan, founder and chief executive of Solairus, said in a statement.
The existing Clay Lacy aircraft and charter management operations at Van Nuys would become the Los Angeles-area base for Solairus. — Howard Fine
Rukard Sells Van Nuys Complex for $9.5 Million
Peter Coeler’s PAC Properties and Santa Barbara-based real estate investor David Back teamed up on a multifamily deal in Van Nuys.
Coeler and Back paid developer Rukard Group $9.5 million, or $316,667 per unit, to purchase 7203 Rubio Ave. as tenants-in-common, according to property records filed in July.
EverBank provided a $6.2 million acquisition loan tied to the property, according to records and a spokesperson for the bank, who declined to comment further.
Rukard completed the 30-unit apartment building a block from the Van Nuys Airport in 2013.
The Lake Balboa-based developer opted to sell the property this year because it’s looking to “reinvest in a bigger multifamily opportunity,” a Rukard spokesperson said.
The property’s new landlords will benefit from the fact that it’s not rent controlled, according to Marcus & Millichap’s Neema Ahadian, who arranged the deal for Rukard along with Leonardo Laterza.
“The transaction reflects continued demand for well-located, newer-vintage multifamily properties that are not subject to the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance,” Ahadian said in a statement.
The loan from EverBank was brokered by Marcus & Millichap’s Danny Abergel, who declined to comment.
Multifamily deal flow is up about 25% year-over-year in the Los Angeles metro region in the second quarter of 2026, despite a historically high average capitalization rate of 5.8% for the asset class and the dampening effect of Measure ULA across the city, according to market reports by Marcus & Millichap and Kidder Mathews.
The average multifamily price per unit in Los Angeles ticked up 3.3% to reach $280,591 at the end of the second quarter compared to $271,557 during the same period last year. The development pipeline meanwhile contracted 15.4% annually, with 25,636 units under construction currently compared to 30,285 a year ago. — Abigail Nehring
Malibu Brewing Co. Opens New Bar in Agoura Hills
Malibu Brewing Co. opened its second location this month, at the site of a former brewery in Agoura Hills.
The new taproom, located at 29281 Agoura Road, once housed Ladyface Ale Co. for more than 15 years until its closure in January 2025. Malibu Brewing co-owner Ryan Ahrens indicated to the Business Journal last year that he was looking to expand into Agoura Hills.
“When we opened in Malibu, the goal was simple – create a place where the community could gather over good food and great beer, and experience warm hospitality. That’s the simple core of what we do,” Ahrens said in a statement. “We’ve long admired what Ladyface Ale Co. built in Agoura Hills, an early craft beer institution, and when the opportunity to acquire the space came along, we didn’t hesitate. This place belongs to the Agoura Hills community, and we’re committed to restoring that and providing a space to gather again.”
Malibu Brewing produces its beer at a production facility in nearby Westlake Village.
Ahrens spent much of the past year remodeling the location, adding a bar top made from reclaimed bowling alley wood and generally matching the aesthetic of Malibu’s flagship along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The taproom sports 190 seats and an outdoor area that adds 115. The bar has 22 taps, and Ahrens carried over the flagships full-service kitchen to Agoura Hills.
“We wanted to create a space that feels like a natural part of the community,” said co-owner Jill Ahrens. “Families coming by after soccer games, friends meeting for dinner before a show at The Canyon, a casual lunch spot on the patio and neighbors grabbing a beer together during the week. Those neighborhood moments were a big part of how we thought about this location from the beginning.”
The opening was punctuated by the release of two limited batch beers – the Ladyface IPA and the Overly Ambitious Belgian Dubbel, which was based off a staple at the former Ladyface Ale. The location also donated 20% of its opening day sales to the Southwest Ventura YMCA in Westlake Village. — Zane Hill
Teledyne’s $1.1 Billion Deal
Teledyne Technologies Inc., a digital imaging company based in Thousand Oaks, has agreed to acquire X-ray imaging designer Varex Imaging Corp. in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.
Teledyne Technologies plans to pay $18.90 per share in an all-cash deal for the Salt Lake City-based X-ray imaging components maker. The transaction is expected to close in 2027.
“Our X-ray technologies fit naturally alongside Teledyne’s product portfolio, and its resources will help us accelerate adoption of our advanced imaging solutions, and development of the next generation of products,” Sunny Sanyal, Varex’s president, director and chief executive, said in a statement.
Teledyne’s acquisition of the firm is another notch on the belt for a company that has long been in the healthcare market. The company made its first foray into the sector in 2011, when it acquired an industrial and medical imaging firm called Dalsa Corp. In 2017, Teledyne acquired a supplier of magnetrons, used in cancer radiotherapy devices, called E2v Technologies. In a more recent deal, Teledyne acquired DD-Scientific Holdings Limited and its subsidiary DD-Scientific Limited back in February. The U.K.-based companies make electrochemical gas sensors for the medical and emissions industries.
Varex is a vertically integrated company that designs, manufactures and sells different components for X-ray imaging. And though it performs a similar function to some of Teledyne’s past acquisitions in this space, Varex produces detectors for high-radiation sectors like oncology. Varex also holds the keys to a new photon counting technology used in new detectors, and its technology stack includes the ability to produce x-ray tubes for radiography. That’s unlike Teledyne’s current magnetron electronics.
“While Teledyne and Varex serve similar customers with related technologies, our products are uniquely complementary with minimal overlap,” Robert Mehrabian, the executive chairman of Teledyne, said in a statement. — Keerthi Vedantam
