By Mike Harris Friday, September 11th, 2026

Moorpark markets itself as “The Small City That Figured Out What Big Cities Can’t” to attract new businesses, most recently a planned $100 million AeroVironment campus.

The city says its “secret weapon” is its SPARK program — Same-Day (Building) Permit Approval & Review Kickoff — to help businesses open more quickly.

The program was born out of necessity in 2025 when Quantum Systems was relocating from two existing buildings in Moorpark to a new 135,000-square-foot facility at another Moorpark location and didn’t have time for the traditional review process.

So, the city brought all the necessary agencies together in one room, and Quantum left the meeting with a building permit. 

That arrangement became the blueprint for SPARK, one component of the city’s focused approach to business assistance and permitting,Doug Spondello, Moorpark’s community development director, told the Business Times.

“That process, I think, is what gives people the faith in doing business with our city,” he said.

“They understand that we’re responsive, we’re solutions-oriented, and that, I believe, results in their willingness to invest here,” Spondello said.

What used to take months of back-and-forth now gets resolved in about an hour, according to the city.

AeroVironment, a defense tech company that builds military drones and more, announced on Aug. 24 a planned $100 million investment in a new company-owned campus in Moorpark, next door to Simi Valley, where the company has had a large presence since 1980.

The 20-acre campus will bring together capabilities from five leased Southern California locations to strengthen collaboration across research, engineering, design, prototyping and production, the company says.

It will be directly across the street from an existing AeroVironment facility at 14501 Princeton Ave. 

“This (Moorpark) location that we selected was after a search throughout Ventura County, trying to find a property that we could purchase and own to really solidify our ownership in the area and we found the perfect spot,” the company’s CFO, Sean Woodward, told the Business Times.

Moorpark is much smaller in population and square miles than its larger east Ventura County neighbors Thousand Oaks, home of a growing biotech sector, and Simi Valley, which has significant healthcare, manufacturing, retail and construction sectors.

AeroVironment has major operations at several sites in Simi Valley, where it was headquartered until 2021, when it moved its home office to Arlington, Virginia, which borders Washington, D.C.

The company’s planned Moorpark campus is in its early stages with city approval pending.

For starters, AeroVironment still needs to submit a project application.

Spondello said AeroVironment and the city have “engaged in numerous discussions as the company evaluated and developed its vision for the Moorpark site.”

The company initially met with the city’s economic development team to evaluate the site, which brought planning and building staff into the discussions, Spondello said.

“This early coordination gave AeroVironment a reliable understanding of what could be developed on the site and the permit track that would best suit their proposal, ultimately resulting in their decision to move forward with the investment,” he said.

Spondello said that once AeroVironment submits its application and receives required planning approvals, the company can avail itself of the SPARK program during the building-permit stage.

Spondello said the city is elated that AeroVironment picked it as the site of its new planned campus.

“We’re absolutely thrilled,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to have the opportunity. 

“Not only is it wonderful to have an existing business expand and be willing to make this investment in our community, but it’s a perfect alignment with our overall industrial sector, which is largely focused on aerospace, defense and precision manufacturing,” Spondello said. 

Other defense companies with Moorpark facilities include Germany-based Quantum, Connecticut-headquartered Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense and Canada-based Bombardier, which also benefitted from the SPARK program, Spondello said.

More large companies with Moorpark facilities include Koros USA, Kretek International, Laritech and TestEquity.

AeroVironment says renovation and construction are expected to begin in fiscal 2028, with employee transitions occurring in phases and the campus expected to be fully operational in 2029.

Spondello said there are unconfirmed estimates that the campus could bring 1,000-1,200 employees to the city.

And that could elevate interest in Moorpark housing, including the long-planned 755-unit Hitch Ranch residential project, which around that time should be coming on the market, he said.

“The timing is perhaps fortuitous for us,” Spondello said.

Bruce Stenslie, president and CEO of the Economic Development Collaborative, a business consulting nonprofit for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, said he’s thrilled to see AeroVironment’s consolidation of investment in Moorpark.

“It validates the excellent work city leadership is doing to attract, retain and grow business and quality jobs for the region’s workforce,” he said.

Stenslie noted that AeroVironment is a global leader in unmanned systems research, development and production, one of the fastest-growing clusters of the world economy.

“And Ventura County is at the heart of it,” he said.

“Building on the testing and evaluation assets at Naval Base Ventura County and bolstered recently by the Ventura County Area 805 Advanced Air Mobility Test Range, we see AeroVironment’s investment as a critical contribution to our economic growth and opportunity for current and future generations and opportunity across the county,” Stenslie said.

Quantum, in a June 2025 press release announcing the grand opening of its new U.S. production and integration facility in Moorpark, said it too “was contributing to the region’s expanding aerospace and defense ecosystem.”

A provider of AI-powered autonomous uncrewed aerial systems for defense, security and commercial applications, Quantum said it had expected to employ more than 100 professionals in Moorparkand the greater Ventura County area by the end of 2025.

In an August 2025 press release, Bombardier, an aerospace manufacturer that specializes in building private business jets, announced the inauguration of its newly relocated and expanded component manufacturing facility in Moorpark.

John Bandek, Moorpark’s economic development manager, said in the release that “with Bombardier’s new facility, Moorpark is stepping onto the global stage as a hub for advanced manufacturing.”

Bombardier said the new site was almost 46,000 square feet, boasting a bigger operational footprint and offering a more modern space.

It had about 30 employees at the time, the company said.

The Moorpark site replaced Bombardier’s previous Los Angeles-area operations at the former Western Jet facility at Van Nuys Airport, acquired in 2022. 

Spondello said Bombardier also benefited from the SPARK program.

With the collapse of Canada-U.S. trade talks on Aug. 21, President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of Bombardier’s aircraft unless it manufactures planes in the U.S.

The Canadian company replied that major components of its planes are produced in the U.S., including at the Moorpark facility.

In marketing itself as a home for businesses, Moorpark says that it’s centrally located between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties and 30 minutes from the Port of Hueneme.

The city has seven business districts including the Los Angeles Avenue Commercial Corridor, the downtown High Street Arts & Mixed-Use Corridor and the Arroyo Business Corridor.

As of the second quarter of 2026, vacancy rates were 7.2% retail, 1% office and 11.8% industrial.

There was 1.8 million square feet of retail inventory, 375,000 square feet of office and 4 million square feet of industrial.

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