SpaceX signs lease with Port Canaveral for booster refurbishing

SpaceX has signed a five-year lease for a warehouse and office facility at Port Canaveral, where it plans to process, refurbish and store rocket boosters for future reuse.

The commercial space company has occupied the 53,360-square-foot former SpaceHab building on the north side of the port since August, under a month-to-month lease, and has been renovating the facility, located at 620 Magellan Road.

Now, with the signed lease agreement, "they can forge ahead" with their plans, Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said.

The company also plans to build an adjacent 44,000-square-foot hangar on the 4-acre parcel.

Canaveral Port Authority commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on the lease, which will take effect April 1.

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Under terms of the lease, SpaceX will pay monthly rent to the port of $35,181 in Year 1, increasing to $50,639 a month by Year 5.

"It's a unique opportunity for our port to participate in the space industry," Murray said. "It's just great to be part of it. It's great to be in a strategic location that will be part of making history" for the space program.

SpaceX — formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — will be responsible for paying for and completing improvements to the complex. The port agreed to partially reimburse SpaceX for improvements, up to a maximum of $280,000 by deducting up to $10,000 a month in rent for the first 28 months of the lease.

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SpaceX will have use of a nearby roadway for transporting SpaceX rocket boosters from a cargo dock to its facility, and will get exclusive use of the road for up to six hours while the rocket booster transport is taking place.

Murray said the port also has had "numerous inquiries from numerous companies" in the space industry interested in leasing at the port.

The agreement between SpaceX and the port includes two options to extend the lease by five years each time.

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SpaceX has recovered the first stages of eight Falcon 9 rockets since late 2015, landing three times on pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and five times on unpiloted "drone ships" at sea. Of the sea landings, four were in the Atlantic Ocean and returned to Port Canaveral, while one was in the Pacific Ocean.

The drone ship berth at Port Canaveral where the rocket boosters arrive after being recovered at sea is about 2,000 feet from the complex SpaceX is leasing at the port.

SpaceX hopes to relaunch a Falcon booster for the first time as soon as March 29, launching the SES-10 commercial communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center.

The booster will attempt a second landing at sea that, if successful, would be expected to return to the port several days later.

FLORIDA TODAY staff writer James Dean contributed to this report.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54.

If you go

Canaveral Port Authority commissioners will consider the SpaceX lease agreement at their meeting that begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Canaveral Port Authority Maritime Center Commission Chambers, 445 Challenger Road, Port Canaveral.