A local coalition awaits Joby Aviation’s decision on the location of a new factory.

After months of lobbying Joby Aviation to expand its manufacturing presence in Marina, a coalition of local business, tech, education and government stakeholders eagerly awaits the electric aviation startup’s decision on where it will build a new factory. An announcement is expected in a matter of weeks.

The Santa Cruz-based company first set up shop at Marina Municipal Airport in 2018, and has since used its 120,000-square-foot facility there to develop electric air taxis promising to shuttle passengers over short distances. Joby officially launched production at the Marina plant last month after receiving a testing certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, celebrating the occasion by demonstrating its prototype before hundreds of guests.

But as the company seeks to scale up operations ahead of its goal of beginning commercial service by 2025, it has set off a bidding war between state and local governments across the country competing to house a new 580,000-square-foot manufacturing facility expected to create up to 1,800 new jobs.

“We’ve been meeting on a weekly basis since January to put together what I would characterize as a California retention effort,” says Josh Metz, executive director of Monterey Bay DART, a group promoting the development of the region’s robotics tech sector. DART has helped lead that effort – working alongside Monterey Bay Economic Partnership; City of Marina and Monterey County government officials; and education partners like UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay, and local community colleges.

That coalition, backed with support from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), presented a proposal to Joby this spring. The offer is centered around two property tax incentives provided by GO-Biz – a Capital Investment Incentive Program (CIIP) and an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) – that would reward Joby for its estimated $700 million investment in the area. There are also curriculum and workforce orientation programs being developed by the education partners that would target not only Joby but other nearby air taxi startups like Archer Aviation and Wisk Aero, with the goal of establishing the area as a hub for the emerging advanced air mobility sector.

Despite these incentives, local stakeholders acknowledge they’re competing against more lucrative offers from other states “There are sizable gaps between what Joby’s been offered out-of-state to what’s been provided in-state, and that’s not a surprise,” notes Larry Samuels, special assistant to the chancellor at UCSC, who has been involved in the process.

Though Joby has expressed a desire to stay in California, according to Samuels, it remains to be seen “whether the economic realities make that a possibility.” Marina does appear to be a finalist, he adds, with Joby expected to make a decision before the end of August. A Joby spokesperson says the company is still considering sites.