Tesla Eyes Plant Next to Giga Texas

Image by paulbr75 via pixabay.com

Tesla is planning to add another industrial building adjacent to the 4.3 million-square-foot Giga Texas manufacturing facility, which covers more than 2,000 acres at 12733 Harold Green Road in Austin’s Del Valle suburb.

The locally based EV manufacturer has submitted plans for Cathode, a development that would rise on 32 acres between the gigafactory and the Colorado River, the Electrek first reported.

Set to replace a former quarry, the upcoming industrial facility would produce cathodes for battery manufacturing.

While Tesla has not been named on the application, the co-applicant for Project Cathode is Colorado River Project LLC, which is a legal entity the company uses for its developments in Greater Austin. A spokesperson for the city’s development services department confirmed to Reuters that the application is for the Tesla project and that the permit is for a cathode building.

Bobcat Project at 13100 Harold Green Road is another development the EV manufacturer is planning next to Giga Texas, CommercialEdge data shows.

Late last year, the tech giant kicked off production of the Austin-made Model Y. Bullish on the manufacturing of electric vehicles, Tesla closed 2021 with an 87 percent year-over-year growth of its EV deliveries, a recent 8K Report shows. The local production of cathodes for battery manufacturing will likely alleviate supply chain constrictions, while also reducing costs.

Appetite for industrial

Greater Austin has been attracting a significant amount of industrial development. CommercialEdge data indicates that three projects are slated for a 2022 delivery within a 5-mile radius of Giga Texas. According to JLL data, the metro closed 2021 with more than 6.5 million square feet of industrial deliveries and nearly 9.5 million square feet of new projects underway.

In December, Green Point Property Co. secured a nearly $25 million construction loan for the initial phase of the 3.4 million-square-foot GTX Logistics Park in the Austin suburb of Georgetown, Texas.

In the same month, California-based circuit manufacturer CelLink Corp. signed a 294,000-square-foot lease with Titan Development to occupy the initial phase of Gateway35 Commerce Center in the same suburb. The first building of the two-phase, 114-acre development is scheduled for a mid-2022 completion.