ACMI Properties plans to break ground next quarter on a 1.5M SF industrial development at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in hopes of housing aerospace and advanced manufacturing operations.

The announcement this week comes after the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation, an Austin-based defense manufacturer, last year signed a 207-acre lease to develop research facilities and commercially available space.

ACMI Properties’ industrial development plan for Exploration Park includes 22 buildings ranging from 15K SF to 500K SF, according to a press release from JLL, whose brokers will be leasing the property for ACMI.

ACMI plans to replace many of these buildings with build-to-suit concepts as the development becomes a hub for aerospace, advanced manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence and other hardware technology industries necessary for space commerce and exploration.

“Exploration Park is being designed from the ground up as a world-class center for space companies that will define the next generation of space exploration, commerce, and innovation,” ACMI Properties Senior Director Dave Dowell said in the release, adding that the project “represents the next evolution of American leadership in space.”

Exploration Park is a 240-acre parcel of undeveloped land on Johnson Space Center’s southeast corner in Southeast Houston, near League City.

NASA signed leases with Texas A&M University System and ACMI to develop the area with facilities that will enable commercial and defense space manufacturing.

ACMI Properties will begin construction in the second quarter of 2025, and it expects to complete the project in Q4 2026. JLL’s Richard Quarles, David Holland and Angela Watford are the brokerage team for Exploration Park.