One of the country’s largest defense contractors has chosen Mesquite for a new manufacturing plant.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc. selected the Mesquite 635 industrial park on LBJ Freeway as the location for a new ordnance plant.
The defense company will use one of the buildings on the campus to manufacture artillery casings for the U.S. Department of Defense. There are plans to expand into two other new industrial buildings on the site.
Mesquite’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to allow the new operation. The plan must still be approved by City Council.
The new plant will move into “a 240,011-square-foot concrete tilt-wall building; however, the conditional use permit would allow the applicant to occupy spaces in the other two buildings on the property,” according to filings with the city planning commission.
The Mesquite 635 business park is a project of Arizona-based Creation Equity and LGE Design. Dallas’ Crow Holdings Capital is a partner in the development. Stream Realty Partners leases the buildings.
The 555,790-square-foot industrial park is at the southeast corner of I-635 and U.S. Highway 80.
“The city of Mesquite is very excited about this and this will have a big impact on our community,” City Manager Cliff Keheley said in an email.
According to city filings, General Dynamics intends to process raw materials into artillery casings that will be shipped to another facility for assembly into munitions.
“The proposed use does not include manufacturing or storing explosives or assembling artillery munitions,” according to the filings.
The city expects the plant to employ about 50 salaried employees and 75 to 100 hourly employees.
“Once the installation is complete, the manufacturing facility will effectively produce 20,000 units per month for the Department of Defense, which will contribute to the inherently necessary defense capabilities of the United States and our allies abroad,” General Dynamics said in a letter to the city.
The Department of Defense has said it intends to ramp up munitions and weapons production to replace materials that were sent abroad to support the war in Ukraine.
Based in Florida, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has operations on Glenbrook Drive in Garland and plants in Arkansas and Missouri. It has about 6,000 employees working in more than two dozen locations across the U.S. and Canada.
The company has a partnership with Garland-based True Velocity, which makes composite-cased ammunition selected for the U.S. Army’s next generation weapons program. Firearm manufacturer Beretta Defense Technologies also is a partner in the project.
