New palm trees, a signature marker of the area, are seen against the backdrop of houses in Boca Chica village, a slowly developing company town for Space X employees on Wed, Jan 15, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas.
Christopher Lee/Staff Photographer
A San Antonio general contractor embroiled in lawsuits over unpaid work at SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas has filed for bankruptcy.
Alpha Building Corp. filed for Chapter 7 liquidation last month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio.
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The petition lists 46 creditors with claims against the company, including some that had done work under Alpha’s contracts to build 18 homes at Starbase as well as a bathroom and break room at the Starship launch site.
Those deals went sour sometime in 2024 with Alpha and its subcontractors filing at least 27 liens worth more than $2 million against SpaceX related to unpaid work and materials on the projects.
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They’ve also led to a flurry of lawsuits targeting SpaceX, Alpha and its president, Jonathan Rogero. At least nine civil cases against Alpha remain pending, according to bankruptcy documents.
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Alpha reported $5.4 million in assets and $3.3 million in liabilities, including $2.8 million owed to creditors. The company’s creditors met with the court to discuss their claims on Thursday.
The business opened in 1969 and at one point had nine offices across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It posted declining revenues over the last several years of $17.4 million in 2024, $6.4 million in 2025 and $2.5 million so far this year.
Alpha’s website was shut down when checked Friday. Rogero now works as president of Omega GC Construction Services, which has the same address as Alpha.
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“I believe strong leadership starts with responsibility, to our employees, our clients, our partners, and the communities we serve,” he wrote on Omega’s website.
‘SX issue’
Alpha’s bankruptcy filing cites the “SX issue,” short for the SpaceX issue, as a reason for not paying the retirements of two former employees for a period.
It repaid them, about $71,000 and $95,000 respectively, in September, but Alpha’s SpaceX issues run deeper than that.
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In its lawsuit against Elon Musk’s space firm, Alpha alleged it didn’t get access to the construction site for the homes in time to meet the project’s timeline and that SpaceX terminated the deal citing “schedule delays.”
Alpha said it wasn’t paid, but a source close to the case said the contractor received $4.7 million from SpaceX during the project and was fired for failing to pay its subcontractors.
That lawsuit went to arbitration and was settled with undisclosed terms last year while Alpha’s subcontractors still await payment. Alpha ultimately released its $2 million in lien claims against SpaceX.
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A separate lawsuit by A&O Des Build against Alpha, SpaceX and Dogleg Park LLC — SpaceX’s property-buying shell company — for $2.2 million over the home project is pending in Cameron County District Court. Also involved in that lawsuit is Sapphire Construction Group LLC, another San Antonio-based subcontractor on the project.
READ MORE: Another SpaceX land swap saga unfolds in South Texas
In addition to its SpaceX-related litigation, Alpha also faces a delinquent property tax lawsuit in Comal County and is named in six multidistrict litigation cases over asbestos exposure.
The civil proceedings are on hold pending the outcome of bankruptcy deliberations.
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Ray Battaglia, Alpha’s lawyer, did not answer a request for comment.
The next hearing on the bankruptcy is scheduled for later this month.