On Oct. 23, Cedar Park City Council approved a $1 million performance-based grant for Firefly to expand their headquarters. The company is looking to move into a 44,000-square-foot facility in the New Hope Business Park at 2203 Scottsdale Drive, about 1 mile north of the company’s current headquarters at 1320 Arrow Point Drive.
The details
Arthur Jackson, chief economic development officer for the city, presented the incentive package to council. Jackson noted that Firefly has become the “largest and most notable” company in the city and recounted the Cedar Park’s long relationship with the aerospace company.
“Since the city’s original foresight about where the space industry was going and to recruit a space company here, we’ve put together several different packages to continue to support [Firefly’s] growth in our city and to bring jobs in for our residents and region,” Jackson said. “It hasn’t come easy, but our city has stuck by them, through not only the good times but also the challenging times when they needed us the most. Likewise, Firefly has remained loyal in making our city their anchor for continued investment and innovation.”
In exchange for the $1 million performance-based grant, Firefly will commit to leasing the new facility and hiring 300 new full-time employees with an average salary of $140,000 per year by the end of 2027.
Six council members voted to approve the incentive package. Council member Heather Jefts recused herself from the discussion and abstained from voting, as her son is currently an employee of Firefly.
“It’s really exciting to see them continue to grow in our community,” Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin said.
What else?
Firefly has been growing rapidly over the last year, since it became the first privately operated company to land a lunar rover on the moon. Since the successful completion of the Blue Ghost mission, the company has landed large NASA and Department of Defense contracts. In August, the company went public and earned a valuation of around $9.8 billion, making it one of the largest initial public offerings to launch in the Austin metro in more than a decade.
