Fort Worth Approves Millions for Mach Industries

Fort Worth is trying to get defense technology Mach Industries to put down roots at Alliance Gateway 34 with millions in tax breaks.

Mach Industries didn’t respond in time for publication on whether they’d be moving forward with their plans for a 310,036-square-foot drone factory, according to the Dallas Business Journal. However, the outlet cited a Holt Lunsford second-quarter report and an email from Cody Gibbs, director of market analytics in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro for CoStar, that said Mach has already signed a lease in the development, which is expected to be completed in September.

The incentives package that Fort Worth greenlit includes a 10-year tax break for Mach worth up to $4.5 million, provided they invest a total of $74 million in equipment and real estate. The company is also required to reach 600 jobs with a $67,470 salary minimum, and could have benefits reduced if it doesn’t maintain 1,000 local jobs.

Alliance Gateway 34 is part of Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Fort Worth development, a 27,000 acre master planned office, retail and industrial space. Private developers have thrown around $14 billion in the pot since the development began 35 years ago, and previous reporting pegged the economic impact at $130 billion with 66,000 jobs created.

Mach is a relatively new kid on the block compared to other defense companies that either call the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex home to their headquarters or have a presence there. Lockheed Martin operates a building in suburban Grand Prairie, RTX (formerly Raytheon) has a campus in Richardson where it employs 6,000 and Bell Flight has a headquarters in Fort Worth.

Mach raised a $300 million series C funding round at a $1.8 billion valuation this June, according to the outlet, and its backers include like Bedrock Capital and Sequoia Capital.

— Hunter Cooke