CesiumAstro Eyes West Austin Business Park as Headquarters

A long-running fight over the West Austin Business Park might transform into a dramatic reset with a high-profile winner.

Austin-based space communications startup CesiumAstro is in talks to buy the 23-acre, three-building campus near State Highway 71 and Sweetwater Village Drive, with plans to convert the controversial site into its global headquarters, the Austin Business Journal reported. The 270,000-square-foot property, known as Lot 7, sits in Bee Cave’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and has been at the center of a bitter legal dispute for more than a year.

Nothing is signed yet. CesiumAstro executives cautioned on Monday that discussions are ongoing and that no deal has been finalized.

“We’ll share updates on any expansion once details are confirmed,” CFO Ken Smith told the outlet.

Still, the city of Bee Cave has already teed up a path forward. City officials announced that CesiumAstro is poised to acquire the property from Dallas-based Velocis, which had partnered with KBC Advisors on the development, as part of a settlement agreement aimed at resolving the lawsuit over the project. The Bee Cave City Council unanimously voted in December to advance an updated settlement after an executive session, though the agreement has not yet appeared in court filings.

If completed, the sale would largely end Bee Cave’s clash with Velocis — and replace a feared warehouse hub with a fast-growing aerospace employer. City officials said CesiumAstro plans to use the campus for office space and assembly of satellite communications equipment, not distribution.

That distinction is central to the deal. Bee Cave sued in 2024, arguing the developers violated a 2015 development agreement by pushing an industrial warehouse project incompatible with nearby residential areas. Velocis disputed those claims. Under the amended agreement, warehouse and distribution uses are barred.

Plans call for converting 76 loading docks into windows, leaving just four truck bays. According to city documents, truck traffic would be capped at eight 18-wheelers per month, down from what could have been hundreds per day. All deliveries would require 24-hour notice to Bee Cave police and escorted truck trips. The developers also agreed to donate $500,000 to the city.

Mayor Kara King framed the settlement in a statement as a community win, saying the new agreement amounted to a “better outcome for our community than a last mile warehouse distribution center.”

The settlement does not resolve all legal issues. Claims tied to the project against Bee Cave’s former city manager, Clint Garza, remain set for trial in February.

The site could anchor CesiumAstro’s next growth phase. The startup raised $65 million last year, on top of a $60 million round in 2022, and has secured defense contracts with the Space Development Agency and the U.S. Air Force, according to the publication. Headcount has doubled to more than 200, and the company has been openly scouting for room to expand its Austin presence.

— Eric Weilbacher