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A satellite manufacturing startup wants to establish a headquarters and manufacturing hub at Arlington Municipal Airport, which could create more than 3,000 jobs.
The Arlington City Council is scheduled to vote on April 23 on whether to approve a memorandum of understanding between the city, the Arlington Economic Development Corporation, and Espace to establish the headquarters and manufacturing plant.
The Arlington Economic Development Corporation will contribute up to $50 million in sales tax revenue to E-Space toward construction costs, according to a staff report. The first phase of the company's proposed construction would include a 250,000 square foot manufacturing and office building, a 40,000 square foot hangar, an aircraft parking area and an airport access road on the west side of the municipal airport.
Founded in 2022, E-Space is a communications startup with 95 employees and offices in Saratoga, California and Beverly, Massachusetts. E-Space has a team of 170 members around the world and international offices in the UK, France and Germany.
E-Space wants to develop 750,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space. During his first five years in business, he plans to employ at least 400 people at an average annual salary of $95,000 under performance agreements, according to a staff report.
The company could grow to 2,000 people in 10 years. Over the course of the 30-year lease agreement, E-Space could create 3,335 direct and indirect jobs and more than $8 billion in payroll, according to a third-party economic analysis.
As part of the master agreement, E-Space must certify that it has signed a lease for the initial space in Arlington within 90 days of signing the deal, and that it has spent $2.5 million in start-up costs. E-Space will also be required to hold a planning session with the city to discuss the city's use of the technology. E-Space will pay annual rent of $2 million during the 30-year lease with the Arlington Economic Development Corporation, increasing by 3 percent every five years.
E-Space CEO Greg Wyler founded satellite companies O3b Networks in 2007 and OneWeb in 2012. Google has asked O3b Networks Ltd to lead its $1 billion business building satellites to beam the internet to Earth.
Wyler left the Google Inc. team in 2014, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. A year after Mr. Wyler left OneWeb, OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 and cut its workforce, according to the Orlando Business Journal. In November 2020, Reuters reported that OneWeb emerged from bankruptcy with $1 billion in new capital.
