Near Brookshire, Texas, Tesla has acquired a brand-new one-million-square-foot building. It is rumored that it will be used to store batteries, but the purpose is still unknown.
The company has quickly become a Texas company in the state since establishing its Gigafactory Texas initiative in Austin two years ago and moving its headquarters there.
Tesla has recently begun construction on a brand-new lithium refinery outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. Tesla has renewed its lease on a substantial building in Brookshire, Texas, which is close to Houston.
The lease was first reported by the Houston Chronicle:
Little is known about Tesla’s plans, but the Fortune 500 company signed a lease late last year for about 1.03 million square feet at 111 Empire West, part of the 300-acre Empire West Business Park in Brookshire, according to research reports from real estate brokerages Cushman & Wakefield and Savills. The landlord and developer of the park, Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners, declined to comment. Tesla officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The project was discussed by Brookshire’s interim city administrator, Mike Barnes:
We’re familiar with the Tesla project primarily from a permitting perspective. Some of their engineering-construction folks have come in with regards to initiating some dialogue.
Despite the absence of any official information regarding Tesla’s strategy for the vast facility, the fact that the automaker currently has a few open positions there gives us some indications.
It sounds like it will involve both production and a warehouse.
In the job description for the Brookshire position of “Associate Manager, Production Control,” Tesla writes:
As an Associate Manager of Production Control, you will have the responsibility to design and oversee material handling functions at Gigafactory Texas. You will lead a team of Supervisors and take a KPI-driven approach toward meeting daily operational objectives. In this role, you will work cross-functionally with inventory control, Production Control process, and various other supply and logistics organizations to solve problems, drive continuous improvement, and achieve production targets.
A “Cell Materials production area” is also mentioned in the job, which suggests that the location might produce materials for cell production at Gigafactory Texas.