Pyka Nears Deal to Lease Former Hangar at Alameda Point

Electric airplane maker Pyka is close to leasing a 106,000-square-foot former hangar at Alameda Point.

The autonomous aircraft startup based in Oakland is negotiating a deal with the City of Alameda for the industrial building at 950 West Tower Avenue, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The East Bay island city will decide whether to approve the eight-year lease on Sept. 5. Under terms of the deal, Pyka’s lease would start March 1 with a three-year extension option. Its monthly rent would be $100,700, or 95 cents per square foot.

Pyka would be responsible for building maintenance, but would be allowed to credit up to $1.2 million in improvements towards its rent. The lease would require it to host an annual “student science event” for local children.

The firm is among numerous aerospace firms that have sought to lease buildings at the former Naval Air Station Alameda, which closed in 1997. Alameda now favors a site-by-site approach to its commercial buildings at the former base, selling some and leasing out others.

Pyka, which raised $37 million in a Series A round last year, has less than 50 employees, according to its LinkedIn page. It told Alameda last fall it expected to grow to more than 130 employees by 2026. A company video shows a pilotless crop duster spraying farm fields.

The firm had been in previous talks with the city to lease Building 11, a former hangar of a similar size less than a quarter mile from 950 West Tower Avenue.

The deal fell through, according to Alameda Planning Director Andrew Thomas, who has been serving as the city’s interim director of base reuse.

He said Alameda is close to a deal with another tenant for Building 11. City records suggest the tenant may be Science Corp., a medical device startup based in the city.

— Dana Bartholomew