Tucson-based space exploration company World View Enterprises, plans to move to 28-acre property south of Tucson International Airport, Pima County announced today.
The company, which manufactures helium-filled balloons that carry manned capsules to near space, plans to move into the new facility that includes room for a launch site, a memo from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry says.
The facility would eventually employ as many as 400 people at an average salary of more than $55,000 annually, under terms of an economic incentive agreement up for Board of Supervisors approval at the Tuesday at its Jan. 19.
The agreement would have the county fund initial construction of a 120,000-square foot headquarters and light-manufacturing facility up to $14.5 million. World View would repay the countyโs investment over 20 years through annual lease payments.
Over the course of the agreement the company would pay $23.6 million in annual lease payments.
The agreement provides World View the option to purchase the facility after ten years.
The location of the proposed new facility stands at the intersection of the newly realigned Aerospace Parkway and Hughes Access Road.
