Fort Worth in running for $74M drone factory with up to 1,000 jobs
A California-based defense contractor is considering Fort Worth as a potential location for a $74 million drone manufacturing facility.
The plant from Huntington Beach-based Mach Industries would be in the AllianceTexas business district, and could bring up to 1,000 jobs to Fort Worth, according to a city economic development agreement presented to the city council Tuesday.
The company’s stated mission is to build “asymmetric aerospace and defense systems and components by the millions” in an attempt to deter war and advance prosperity.
It recently wrapped up a round of funding securing $300 million raising the company’s valuation to $1.8 billion, according to online tech publication Tech Crunch.
The company’s 22-year-old founder and Boerne native, Ethan Thornton, dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 19 to start the company, according to Tech Crunch.
Fort Worth is in competition with other cities in Texas and across the country as possible sites for Mach’s manufacturing facility, city economic development director Jessica Rogers told the City Council during a June 23 work session.
To entice the company to pick Fort Worth, the city is considering offering a package of up to $4.5 million in tax breaks and grants over a 10-year period.
To get the full incentive, Mach Industries would have to hire a minimum of 1,000 people with a minimum average salary of $67,470, according to the city’s presentation.
The company has to maintain a minimum of 600 jobs to get any incentive at all, the city’s presentation said.
If at any point during the agreement more than 50% of the jobs at the factory pay less than $60,000, the company won’t get any incentive money that year, Rogers said.
Some cities offered more generous incentives while others had lower labor costs, however, Fort Worth’s history of delivering incentive agreements and city support for the project have made Fort Worth the company’s preferred location, Rogers said.
The company’s trajectory is impressive, Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Flores said during the June 23 work session. He referenced company CEO Thornton founding the company at 19 and getting it to a massive valuation is record time.
“I was not doing that at 19 years old,” he said.
Drone technology is the future, and this is an opportunity for the city to not just add jobs, but also increase property tax revenue and payrolls, District 4 council member Charles Lauersdorf said.
The Fort Worth City Council is expected to vote on the proposed incentive agreement at its 6 p.m. meeting on Aug. 11.
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