City Council members approved a $1.5 million economic development agreement with weapons manufacturer Aeon May 28 to bring the company’s headquarters and manufacturing facility to Cedar Park.
The framework
Aeon will be the first tenant of the new Cedar Tech I development, located at 2305 Scottsdale Drive, just north of New Hope Drive, Chief Economic Development Officer Arthur Jackson said. The company will move into a 48,000-square-foot facility that will house its headquarters and manufacturing facility, city documents state.
The city will pay Aeon $1.5 million in job creation incentives, provided the company meets certain thresholds. Under the agreement, the company will create 135 jobs with a combined annual payroll of about $16.5 million by the end of 2029. It will also be required to make a local investment of $8.5 million by building out the facility as well as purchasing and installing equipment. The agreement is also contingent on the company generating a steadily increasing rate of sales tax revenue, including at least $220,816 annually by 2032.
The company expects to see a 17.9% rate of return on its investment over a payback period of 5.7 years, city documents state.
About the company
Aeon designs and produces advanced missiles and the software that guides them. The company’s two main products are a “precision weapon system” called Zeus and the “autonomous targeting software” that guides those weapons, called ODIN, according to the company’s website.
“I started Aeon because I grew up by Camp Pendleton, which is one of the largest military bases on the West Coast, and so all my neighbors were Marines growing up, and the number one thing they complained about was they were using the same exact weapons that their grandfathers used in the Vietnam War. They’ve seen no innovation in the space for the past 30 to 60 years,” Aeon founder and CEO Naweed Tahmas said.
Council members expressed excitement about Aeon’s move to the city.
“All of us recognize just how important companies like [Aeon] are and what a great fit they are for our community,” Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin. “We also recognize our community as a special home [with an] attachment to supporting the warfighter and innovation. When we get to do both at the same time, it’s really exciting.”
Tahmas said he and his company decided to relocate to Cedar Park because of its status as a tech hub and the opportunity to hire locally.
“We chose Cedar Park for a reason,” Tahmas said. “The space that we’re in requires a city that’s able to move as quickly as we can. As a startup, we move fast. We not only need a partner that can move fast with us, but we also need the talent here.”
