HARTING Connectivity makes industrial connectors — the plugs and interfaces that carry data, signals, and power on factory floors and machinery. It is the U.S. arm of a family-owned German company, with its American base in Elgin, Illinois. Fort Worth wants a piece of its next plant. That is not the same thing as a deal already signed.
On Sept. 1, 2026, the Fort Worth City Council heard an economic-development briefing on a proposed HARTING manufacturing plant. The Fort Worth Report covered that session. According to that account, Fort Worth is competing with other states for a project the city values at $192.7 million. It is no done deal. The city is still in a competition.
What would Fort Worth give, and what would it ask for? Brianna Brown, the city’s assistant economic development director, told the council the city is proposing a 10-year tax abatement of up to 65% of the project’s incremental real and business personal property taxes, valued at about $6 million, to bring the plant there. In return, as the city presented it, HARTING would commit to at least $192.7 million in capital by the end of 2028 — including $31.1 million in real-property construction by the end of 2027 and $161.6 million in equipment by the end of 2031. Hiring, as presented, would be 701 new employees by the end of 2034 at an average wage of $87,000, plus 189 corporate and technical roles averaging more than $125,000, with a headquarters-relocation option discussed. The company would also pledge to spend 30% of construction costs with small businesses, according to that same account. Those are the city’s proposed deal terms as reported. They are not a payroll CasterHQ audited, and HARTING has not confirmed every line to this desk.
Where would it sit? The proposed site is three buildings at the Carter Crossing industrial park at Interstate 20 and Wichita Street in southwest Fort Worth. The city also described competing East Coast locations that offer shorter ocean routes for imported components, and said other states are offering richer incentive packages than what Fort Worth was recommending at the work session.
The next public clock on the Fort Worth side is Sept. 29, 2026, when the council is expected to vote on the tax-abatement package. A work-session briefing and a later vote are different steps. Even a yes vote is not the same as a signed contract and a shovel in the ground. Until a deal is closed and announced as closed, this stays a proposal.
Company background from the same reporting: HARTING was founded in 1945 in Germany and has a large global footprint. That helps you know who is on the other side of the table. It does not turn a Fort Worth pitch into a finished plant.
Bottom line for a North Texas industrial reader: a real connector maker is looking at Fort Worth, the city has put dollar and job numbers on the table, and a council vote is on the calendar for Sept. 29. Proposed is not closed. Do not treat the $192.7 million or the 701 jobs as done until the company and the city say the deal is signed.
Limits
Figures and site details are from the Fort Worth Report’s Sept. 1, 2026 account of the city’s economic-development presentation. The underlying city PDF was not opened. HARTING did not confirm the project to CasterHQ. Competing state locations were not named in a primary company release used here. The photograph is a downtown Fort Worth skyline, not the Carter Crossing site and not a built HARTING plant.
Sources
- Fort Worth Report, Sept. 1, 2026 (Bob Francis), citing City of Fort Worth Economic Development: Fort Worth competing for $192.7M manufacturing plant with 700 jobs
