Behold the big buildings that brought Tesla Inc. to the small suburb of Kyle.
The Kyle/35 Logistics Park off I-35 about 26 miles south of downtown Austin became an instant success in August when Mayor Travis Mitchell announced that the electric vehicle giant would lease three buildings at the five-building, 1.4-million-square-foot industrial hub. Tesla's plans have since grown, with the company tied to over 1 million square feet across four buildings.
To put that into perspective, it's like a footprint of more than a dozen H-E-B stores.
Tesla is expected to make battery-related parts for its cars in the buildings that it has leased.
When Kyle's mayor delivered the Tesla news to a couple hundred people at Texas Old Town's Sage Hall in Kyle, the crowd of local business leaders and elected officials gasped.
Tesla is the first known tenant in Kyle 35 Logistics Park, which is being developed by Houston-based Alliance Industrial Co. Brokers at Jones Lang LaSalle are tasked with filling up the business park.
When it was proposed a couple of years ago, the development was billed as the first-ever speculative project of at least 1 million square feet in the region between Austin and San Antonio — although that threshold now includes several other project as the area continues to grow. Construction started in June 2022.
When fully done, the development will include five state-of-the-art logistics facilities ranging in size from 140,000 square feet to 475,000 square feet. The buildings have clear heights ranging from 36 feet to 40 feet with employee and trailer parking and a mix of single-loaded and cross-docked layouts. Buildings are designed for either single or multi-tenant use and can accommodate end users between 40,000 and 1.4 million square feet.
Officials said when they launched the project in 2022 that it represents a $115 million capital investment and is estimated to bring about 1,500 jobs with an average pay of around $41,600.
It's unclear how many people Tesla plans to employ there.
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Kyle/35 Logistics Park
Landlord Broker: JLL
Tenant Rep. Broker: Davis Bass (HPI)
Primary Lead Developer: Alliance Industrial Co.
Primary General Contractor: EE Reed Construction LP
Primary Architect: Seeberger Architecture
MEP: GH Mechanical; McBride Plumbing LLC; Performance Electric Co. LP
Primary Landscape Architect: Langan Engineering
Primary Civil Engineer: Kimley-Horn
Primary Structural Engineer: Bihner Chen Engineering
Primary Title Company: Corridor Title
Primary Financier: American Realty Advisors
Primary Law Firm: Locke Lord LLP