Fort Worth City Council approved millions in incentives to land a California company’s drone assembly plant — a move that could add to the city’s booming defense industry.
Council members unanimously approved the package for Mach Industries, a company that deploys advanced unmanned aircraft, during the body’s Aug. 11 meeting. The company is eyeing Alliance Gateway 34, a roughly 310,000-square-foot industrial building at Westport Parkway and Independence Parkway in Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development for the factory.
Under the terms of the deal, Mach Industries would be required to invest $74 million in the property by Jan. 1, 2030, and create at least 1,000 full-time jobs to receive the full incentive. Fort Worth approved a package of up to $4.5 million in grants and tax abatements over a 10-year period. The minimum average annual salary must be nearly $67,500, according to a June 23 City Council work session presentation.
Mach Industries must maintain minimum investment, job and other development-related goals. Representatives for Mach Industries not immediately respond to questions about the project.
City officials previously said Mach Industries was expected to make a decision on the location in the third quarter of this year. Fort Worth is competing against several sites across the state and nation.
“Our team feels good about the deal,” Hillwood CEO Ross Perot Jr. told The Dallas Morning News. “But no announcement yet.”
Other data indicates that Mach may have already chosen. Data from Holt Lunsford Commercial indicates that Mach Industries signed a lease for the Alliance space, as first reported by the Dallas Business Journal.
Andrea Duffie, spokesperson for Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department, said the incentive agreement has not been signed. Data from real estate firm CoStar ties Mach to the Alliance industrial building.
“We do have [Mach Industries] tied to the site in our system, slated to move in later this year. The building was originally built on speculation with an initial anticipated delivery sometime this quarter,” said Cody Gibbs, director of market analytics for the firm’s Dallas-Fort Worth market.
Mach Industries is a three-year-old defense tech startup run by 22-year-old founder and CEO Ethan Thornton, who dropped out of MIT to start the company. In June, Mach raised $300 million in Series C funding at a $1.8 billion valuation. The company has landed several U.S. Department of Defense contracts.
Mach has five autonomous vehicles in development, including a jet-powered vertical takeoff vehicle called The Viper.