ARLINGTON, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal
A startup that manufactures satellites wants to establish its headquarters and manufacturing hub at Arlington Municipal Airport, which could create more than 3,000 jobs.
Arlington's city council is scheduled to vote on April 23 on whether to approve the execution of a master agreement between the city, the Arlington Economic Development Corp. and E-Space Inc., to establish the company's headquarters and manufacturing plant.
Arlington Economic Development Corp. would give E-Space up to $50 million in sales tax proceeds for construction, according to the staff report. The proposed first phase of the company's construction would bring a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing and office building, a 40,000-square-foot hangar, aircraft parking apron and an airport access road on the west side of the municipal airport.
E-Space is a telecommunications startup founded in 2022 with 95 employees between offices in Saratoga, California and Beverly, Massachusetts. Globally, E-Space has 170 team members with international offices in the UK, France and Germany.
E-Space wants to develop a 750,000-square-foot manufacturing and office space. In the first five years of operation, the staff reports state the company plans to employ a minimum of 400 people with an average annual salary of $95,000, according to a performance agreement.
The company could expand to 2,000 people in 10 years. Throughout the 30-year lease agreement, a third-party economic analysis states E-Space could create 3,335 direct and indirect jobs and more than $8 billion in salaries.
As part of the master agreement, E-Space will have to prove that it has a lease for initial space in Arlington within 90 days of the agreement and spent $2.5 million on start-up costs. E-Space must also hold a planning session with the city to discuss municipal uses of its technology. E-Space would pay $2 million a year on rent to the Arlington Economic Development Corp. during its 30-year lease, with a 3% increase every five years.
E-Space CEO Greg Wyler founded satellite companies O3b Networks in 2007 and OneWeb in 2012. Google called on O3b Networks Ltd. to lead the company's $1 billion venture to build satellites that beam internet down to earth.
Wyler left the Google Inc. team in 2014, Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, reducing its workforce, according to the Orlando Business Journal, one year after Wyler had left OneWeb. In November 2020, Reuters reported OneWeb emerged from bankruptcy with $1 billion of fresh capital.
