The Midland Development Corp.’s landmark agreement has been a quarter-century in the making.

Back before the second oil renaissance became a reality, Midland voters approved the concept of an economic development program that – when realized – could help diversify our economy. Bell Helicopter in Amarillo was the poster child. What if, they asked?

Twenty-five years later, MDC officials and the Midland City Council approved a deal that is contracted to:

  • result in a satellite manufacturing plant of at least 400,000 square feet at the Midland Spaceport Business Park,
  • invest at least $100 million in the facility and its equipment, and
  • require 1,600 positions by 2036.

It is the most significant non-energy-related economic development deal in the history of Midland – and likely the Permian Basin.
And today we remind residents that deal and its safeguards will benefit Midlanders for generations to come.

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For the Midland Development Corp., this MDC agreement is also an opportunity to finish what the development corporation started. It was the MDC, which made AST’s arrival in Midland – and the hundreds of jobs that have already been created — possible in the first place.

Economic development agreements approved in 2018 and 2025 that provide facility lease abatement brought 210 jobs, which do not count toward the requirements of the proposed 2026 agreement. Those initial agreements brought AST’s headquarters to Midland, but more importantly, it created a mutually beneficial arrangement that put each other on the proverbial map and brought legitimacy to the spaceport concept in Midland.

AST found a home to build its business and grow a market cap in the billions. On Monday, NASDAQ reported AST’s market capitalization at 22.29 billion.

AST has contracts with the Space Development Agency and agreements with commercial telecom partners like AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone. The company also has announced plans to launch 243 satellites by 2028, and all those satellites will touch Midland in some form or fashion.

Safeguards in the deal include that $16 million of the $66 million that AST is eligible to receive over 30 years as part of a ground lease reimbursement that will be returned to the City of Midland.

Clawback provisions also exist to protect City of Midland residents. Lastly, should AST cease to exist, the City of Midland will have a $100 million facility at Midland International Air & Space Port, which would hold much of its value even in extraordinary conditions well into the future.

Lastly NO property tax incentives are included in the agreement, allowing all local taxing entities – including the City of Midland – to receive FULL taxable value of the investment immediately.

This agreement is more than keeping the MDC from building larger cash reserves. When completed, it will centralize all of AST’s operations at Midland International Air & Space Port. It also guarantees that AST will stay in Midland, and why not. Just like AST has been good to Midland; our community has been good to AST.

But again, before celebrating the future and this long-term commitment, we remind Midlanders that this agreement truly encapsulates the type of home run swing voters envisioned in 2001 when an economic development program was pitched to make a difference in Midland. Midlanders made the decision then to make agreements like this a reality.

Midland will always be the capital of one of the largest oil-producing regions in world. But now we are on the verge of guaranteeing Midland will be the home for AST for decades. That’s the economic development Midlanders have wanted for decades.