The Huntsville City Council unanimously approved a deal Thursday night to bring a $200 million Blue Origin rocket engine factory and up to 400 high-paying jobs to Cummings Research Park.

That so-called Project Development Agreement depends on Blue Origin Alabama getting an engine production contract from United Launch Alliance. ULA assembles rockets in nearby Decatur to launch military and commercial satellites into space, and it needs a new engine to replace the Russian one it now uses.

This map shows the location of the new Blue Origin rocket engine plant coming to Huntsville's Cummings Research Park West. (City of Huntsville)

But Blue Origin also needs the new engine for its own rockets, and city industrial recruiter Shane Davis said, "We feel really confident," that the plant will come.

If it does, and Davis expects to know for sure by the end of this year, Blue Origin will build on 46 acres the city gives it in Cummings Research Park West. The first phase of the two-phase deal will employ 265 full-time employees with "an average hourly wage of at least $36" and an initial investment of $90 million by the company.

The second phase will add 77 employees at the same pay and an additional $110 million in capital investment by Blue Origin.

As part of the deal, the city, county and state will:

* Pay $1 million in project development costs upon completion of Phase 1. That is split between Huntsville and Madison County.

* Exempt non-education local sales, use and property taxes for 20 years

* Exempt non-education state property taxes for 10 years

* Grade the site

* Make road improvements

* Extend utility infrastructure (electric, water, natural gas, sewer)

In exchange, Blue Origin will:

* Start plant construction no later than 6 months after getting the ULA contract and begin making engines within 24 months.

* Invest the $90 million Phase 1 cost

* Meet the hiring commitments

If the company does not meet the job or wage requirements, it will begin paying a mortgage on the plant. If it relocates any jobs or operations from the Huntsville plant within a 10-Year "performance period," Blue Origin will pay $6 million.

That so-called "clawback" provision, the mortage clause, and the other stipulations are to protect the city's investment, and City Council members praised their place in the deal. The entire 55-page agreement can be found by following the link in the council agenda here.

The return on the city and county investment will come from the ripple of those salaries through the local economy. Workers will pay sales taxes, purchase services and patronize local restaurants and shops.

"We originally bought that 46 acres to provide jobs," Mayor Tommy Battle said, "and that's what this is doing.... Blue Origin is the last of the propulsion companies I think we can land here."

Blue Origin will develop another deep-space engine after the BE-4, the mayor said, "one that's faster and stronger and has more lift.... This gives us a long-term employment perspective for the community and puts us in a position where nobody else can match us in the world and gives us jobs for a long, long time."