With satellites coming, firm hiring.
Construction on a new factory for OneWeb Satellites on Florida’s Space Coast is shaping up, even while the fledgling space company builds its first few satellites in France.
OneWeb has joined with European jet manufacturer Airbus in a billion-dollar effort to launch upwards of 1,000 satellites to form a new communication network for the planet.
The company’s CEO Greg Wyler tweeted a photo recently of the factory under construction next to Kennedy Space Center. He also updated an audience at the Satellite Innovation Symposium in California recently on the prototype satellites.
“We are going to launch every 21 days over two years across multiple sites,” Wyler said, according to SpaceNews.com coverage of the symposium.
The company is hiring at Cape Canaveral now, advertising for an antenna engineer, a radio frequency design engineer and multiple manufacturing associates.
The website says the manufacturing jobs only require a high school diploma, or GED equivalent, and three years of experience in manufacturing environment, among other things.
OneWeb Satellites’ plant in Florida will be exactly like the one in Toulouse, France – where Airbus headquarters is — except it will have double the product capacity. The Sentinel broke the news about the company’s Florida plant in April 2016.
The Florida plant will include two production lines, whereas the France location has one. In the meantime, the company held its first launch drill at its Virginia control room, and rockets started arriving for the first launches — planned for next spring — at the Arianespace launch site in French Guiana.
OneWeb has also teamed up with Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin, which is building a rocket plant practically across the street from the OneWeb plant.
Cobb sale
A subsidiary of a Mexican movie theater chain has purchased Cobb Theatres, including the downtown Orlando location at 155 S. Orange Ave.
CMX Cinemas, a subsidiary of Mexico-based Cinemex, bought all 25 existing Cobb locations, and two locations under development. Cobb is based in Birmingham, Ala.
A spokeswoman for CMX said the company will continue running all 25 Cobb locations including theaters in Daytona Beach, Lakeland, Winter Haven and Merritt Island. Eventually, they might be remodeled to match CMX.
CMX said in a news release it will be the eighth largest movie theater chain in the United
States with 30 operating sites and 342 screens.
This sale is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval. CMX said it will continue to grow organically and through acquisitions in the United States by developing and opening new theatres.
CMX says its first theater was at Brickell City Centre in Miami, launched in April 2017.
UPS drivers
UPS is seeking to fill classes at its new driver training center in Lake Mary, its ninth in the nation, at 400 Rinehart Road.
The class for new UPS drivers is a five-day class, about 46 hours. The facility employs six full-time employees and other part-time instructors.
Currently, UPS is aiming to enroll 24 drivers per class, but that is expected to increase for the holiday season. The company contracts with a local hotel for students to stay the week.
Church Street
Lincoln Property has finalized its purchase of the south side of Church Street Station, including the Cheyenne Saloon and Hamburger Mary’s.
We reported in August that Lincoln had a contract on the land. The deed for the sale was filed with Orange County on Thursday, showing Lincoln paid $5.5 million for the property, just under an acre. The sale recorded Thursday does not include properties on the north side of Church Street that are still for sale, including the Church Street Exchange Building.
Although the sale raises questions about the future of the historic properties, the mayor’s office previously told the Orlando Sentinel that the city had been talking to Lincoln about its plans for the area.