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A $ 5 billion electric vehicle company backed by Amazon and Ford weighs in at a location in northern Texas roughly the size of Tesla’s highly hyped gigafactory.
A $ 5 billion electric vehicle company backed by Amazon and Ford weighs a location in North Texas roughly the size of Tesla’s highly hyped gigafactory outside of Austin.
The location considered in the Walsh development 12 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth was one of the top locations suggested by executives from North Texas when Amazon was looking for a place to build its huge HQ2 project sought.
The Walsh development was designed to handle the largest corporate projects in the country and the world – and this would be one of them.
Rivian Automotive Inc., based in Irvine, Calif., The electric vehicle startup supported by Ford and Amazon, is negotiating an investment of at least $ 5 billion to build a factory with a capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year, according to a presentation on Tuesday Night from the Fort Worth Department of Economic Development to the City Council.
The codenamed Project Tera endeavor would create at least 7,500 jobs by 2027 with an average minimum annual salary of $ 56,000. The factory would have a vertical construction of 12 million square meters.
The Fort Worth EDC proposed an economic development package with Rivian that the presentation said would include up to $ 440 million in grants and tax breaks from the county.
Though Rivian’s facility would be primarily factory, not office space, it would be more than five times the size of Toyota’s 100 acres, 2.1 million square foot corporate headquarters complex in Plano and employ more than twice as many workers, albeit with less than average salaries . Rivian’s project would invest five times as much capital as Toyota’s, widely touted as one of the largest and most impactful economic development gains in North Texas.
The extent of Rivian’s proposed expansion in Fort Worth would be similar in many ways to Tesla’s Palo Alto, California manufacturing facility being built just outside Austin, although comparisons are difficult as final elements of both projects are or may not be in flux were approved by the respective companies.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have touted the so-called GigaTexas project as the largest automobile production facility in the United States. The facility will be built on just over 2,480 acres, which Tesla purchased last year. According to a presentation the company made to Travis County officials in June 2020, the electric automaker will hire at least 5,000 people. Musk said in a March 31 tweet, “GigaTexas will need over 10,000 people by 2022! ”
The city of Austin has approved the first phase of GigaTexas for just over 7.9 million square feet of covered construction.
Rivian’s $ 5 billion capital investment commitment includes at least $ 2 billion in real estate improvements and $ 1.6 billion in construction costs, according to its presentation to the Fort Worth Council.
Brandom Gengelbach, CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce declined to comment on details of the Rivian proposal, simply saying, “We are thrilled that Project Tera is considering Fort Worth as a finalist.”
For more about the potential factory, click here.
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