Mustang Cat Plans $30M Headquarters Near Houston

Construction equipment dealer Mustang Cat is planning a headquarters move.

The Caterpillar dealership for Southeast Texas filed plans to construct a 185,000-square-foot building at 897 North Business 290 in Hempstead, a small town 40 miles northwest of Houston.

Construction is expected to cost $30 million, or $162 per square foot, although estimates are preliminary and subject to change.

It is unclear whether Mustang Cat plans to leave its headquarters at 12800 Northwest Freeway, an industrial complex that the fourth-generation dealership owns, according to property tax records.

The Mustang Cat headquarters development is one of the only commercial projects hitting the rural town in Waller County so far this year. The project includes an office and machine-repair facility. Construction is set to begin in June and finish by September 2025. Local firm Goree Architects will spearhead the design.

Mustang Cat, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2022, has about 850 employees in the Houston area. It is also one of Houston’s largest private companies, according to the Houston Chronicle, which ranked it as the 17th most-lucrative private company last year, with $1.3 billion in revenue. Sam Tucker, the great-grandson of the firm’s founder, was elevated to CEO in 2021. His father, Brad Tucker, is the firm’s chairman.

Waller County has a population of 65,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, it is home to a bustling business community. Goya Foods, the country’s largest Hispanic-owned company, houses a 320,000-square-foot distribution center in Brookshire, just west of Katy. Brookshire is also home to the U.S. headquarters of the Danish company Grundfos, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of water pumps.

Land Tejas and Starwood Land’s 2,300-acre master-planned community, Sunterra, is expanding single-family offerings in the county and became the nation’s third-best-selling master-planned community last year. Construction on the 870-acre community started in 2021. Ashton Gray Development is also developing a master-planned community in the area, a 171-acre development complete with a pond and trails near Highway 290 in the county’s namesake, Waller, Texas.