Valbridge Property Advisors | Kansas City appraised a rocket manufacturing facility located in Decatur, Alabama. This facility is used for United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which began in 2006. In this facility, ULA produces two rocket lines, the Atlas V and Delta IV. The Atlas V was the Lockheed rocket and is generally a less expensive rocket. The Delta IV was the Boeing rocket and is more complex than the Atlas rockets as they have a custom booster core and are built to the client’s exact specifications. The facility was initially constructed by Boeing to house their Delta rocket manufacturing, but once ULA was formed, production of Lockheed Martin’s Atlas class rocket was also moved into the facility from the Pueblo, Colorado facility.

Customers of ULA include both private and governmental entities, with the majority of the work being completed for governmental entities. Major competitors of ULA include SpaceX, Orbital Science, and Arianespace. The budget cuts at NASA will eventually help ULA when a new round of human space flight begins. There are currently three companies that are working toward a manned space capsule for their rockets and ULA is one of them.

There are 1.1 million square feet under the roof and nearly 1.5 million square feet with the inclusion of mezzanines. This square footage is located on a 173-acre site according to the Morgan County Revenue Commissioner, however, the property contact noted that their site is 326 acres in size. The building was originally constructed in 1999 with additions since then.