Bastrop EDC Cancels Development Agreement with Moca Financial

A Fintech firm has lost its bid to build a headquarters east of Austin after repeated delays and a scaled-back proposal.

Moca Financial’s plans to develop the 70,000-square-foot office project in the Bastrop Business and Industrial Park is no longer moving forward after the city’s economic development corporation reacquired 28 acres set aside for the firm, the Austin Business Journal reported.

The project was announced in 2021 as a “Google-like headquarters, and was granted multiple extensions. But the firm submitted a drastically reduced site plan offering just 4,000 square feet of office space instead of the 40,000 square feet required by an incentives agreement that would’ve reimbursed Moca up to $900,000 for purchasing the property.

The EDC voted to terminate the agreement and issued a notice of default, effectively ending the project. Property records confirm that it regained the deed last month.

The EDC and Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo are weighing options for the land. One potential use is a sports complex, and Chicago-based Hundan Partners is conducting a feasibility study to assess its viability. Carrillo also stressed that any future development would need to be evaluated for its potential to create jobs and strengthen ties with local educational institutions.

“It gives a wonderful opportunity for us to attract good employers. But good employers means not just jobs and workable salaries, it means good partnership with our school district for training,” Cerrillo said. “We’re looking for companies that have a good return on investment for our residents and for our students that are going to become future residents.”

The project’s collapse was a setback for Moca, whose president is Bastrop-based real estate developer John Adrian Burns, according to LinkedIn.

The firm is also tied to John Baasch Augers and Flighting Inc., a Nebraska-based agricultural machinery company. During an August EDC meeting, John Baasch and Riley Baasch, key figures in the development, cited environmental constraints as reasons for the project’s delays.

However, the board was unconvinced and terminated the agreement.

While the Moca Financial project is no longer moving forward, the industrial park remains a hub of activity. Companies like Acutronic USA and LS Electric Co. Ltd. have established facilities in the area, and the BEDC is optimistic that the reclaimed land will soon find a new purpose that aligns with the city’s economic growth plans.

— Andrew Terrell