Tesla plans to add large industrial site in Houston area
According to the Houston Chronicle, Tesla signed a lease late last year for about 1.03 million square feet in Brooke County, Texas, which is part of the 300-acre Empire West Business Park in Brooke County. Tesla's lease would be one of the five largest industrial real estate deals signed in the Houston area last year, according to research by Cushman & Wakefield.
Tesla appears to be gearing up for a major new industrial facility in west Houston, a project that further deepens the electric car maker's investment in Texas. Lease documents describe the building as a warehouse with more than 300 trailer parking spaces, a large truck yard and a docking function designed to improve the efficiency of loading and unloading products.
Mike Barnes, Brookshire's interim city manager, said he did not know details about the lease, but Tesla officials have been in communication with the city's permitting office. Permits are in process for a portion of the building, but have not yet been issued. Stream Realty Partners, currently based in Dallas and the owner and developer of the campus, declined to comment, and Tesla officials did not respond to requests for comment.
It's unclear what Tesla will do at the Brooks County facility. In addition to building trucks and cars, Tesla sells a wide range of battery and solar panel products for residential and commercial customers. The Brookshire-area facility could be used for manufacturing or as a warehouse or logistics facility.
Tesla has also advertised a number of warehouse and logistics positions in the Brookshire area. A position posted on the social media platform LinkedIn for an associate production control manager describes the need for someone to oversee the production of battery materials and have experience in handling, logistics and supply chain management in a manufacturing environment.
Tesla, which has moved its headquarters to Austin since December 2021, opened a large battery storage project in Angleton, north of Lake Jackson, and applied for tax incentives for a proposed plant in Nueces County, where it would produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide used in electric vehicle batteries. Most of Musk's properties have relocated with it, including the offices and warehouse of tunneling and infrastructure company Boring Co. in Pflugerville; Neuralink's office in Del Valle; and aerospace company SpaceX's facility in Bastrop County, Austin-American Statesman reported. SpaceX has had a spaceport in Boca Chica for nearly a decade.
