ATX-CPF: Impact 10/27/2025

As the Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace continues its push to expand, the company is looking to move into a larger facility that could attract up to 300 jobs to the city.

On Oct. 23, Cedar Park City Council approved a $1 million performance-based grant for Firefly to expand their headquarters. The company is looking to move into a 44,000-square-foot facility in the New Hope Business Park at 2203 Scottsdale Drive, about 1 mile south of the company’s current headquarters at 1320 Arrow Point Drive.

The details: Arthur Jackson, chief economic development officer for the city, presented the incentive package to council. Jackson noted that Firefly has become the “largest and most notable” company in the city and recounted the Cedar Park’s long relationship with the aerospace company.

Discount Electronics will hold a grand reopening event in North Austin to celebrate recent store renovations and the business' new CEO, Derek McWilliams.

The details: The grand reopening will take place at the store at 11 a.m. on Oct. 24, featuring a ribbon cutting with the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Founded in Austin, the store sells a variety of used and refurbished brand name laptops, computers and monitors.

Discount Electronics has another location in Round Rock and an operations center in Pflugerville.

• 4005 W. Parmer Lane, Ste. D, Austin

As the Austin metro area continues to see expansion in the technology sector, industry leaders are highlighting key critical area of interest: power delivery. 

What you need to know: In an Oct. 22 meeting of Opportunity Austin's Economic Development Council, panelists representing a variety of arms of the local technology industry shared insights regarding technology industry expansion in the area. 

What they're saying: The technology sector in Austin has experienced rapid growth, panelists said, and one of the first questions being asked by companies seeking to locate here are about power supply. 

"So much of our current project was defined by how much power we could bring into the building," said Eric Van Hensbergen, a fellow and member of the leadership team of the architecture and technology group at semiconductor and software design company Arm. "In speaking with a lot of our partners, that's the No. 1 thing that they're looking for in regions that they're expanding into."

These considerations are especially relevant for data centers, he said.

Travis County officials approved a $124,953 feasibility study Oct. 21 to explore a potential commuter rail line between Austin and San Antonio.

The big picture: Championed by Travis County Judge Andy Brown, the study will examine passenger rail options along state-managed land near highways, potentially connecting the Amtrak station in San Antonio to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Brown said the goal is to use existing corridors like SH 130 and I-10 to avoid major land acquisition and speed up development.

Why it matters: Brown said a rail line could remove up to 25% of I-35 traffic between the two cities as the corridor’s population—projected to reach 8 million by 2050—continues to grow. The study will run 175 days and include engineering, ridership and cost analyses.

Zooming out: The project complements a separate TxDOT study reviewing 11 alternatives along I-35, including commuter rail and multimodal lanes. Rail ranked as the top community preference in 2024 public feedback sessions.

Here are the top trending Community Impact stories in the Austin metro from Oct. 20-24.