Devils advocate... Huntsville has an overwhelming presence of exactly this type of work already in the full spectrum of industries relating to anything in space, from space, or about space.

Not only that, but the benefit of moving to where there already is a massive presence that will ultimately prove more efficient/useful is much more impactful than a building (or several) and 1500 people. Land is also extremely cheap, easy to develop, and generally unrestrictive.

The programs are what costs the real money, and being local to Research Park, Redstone Arsenal, UAH (albeit less important) is going to save plenty of money to make up for it. Several billion $ in programs going to significantly better use in a HUGELY more collaberative and resourceful area is much smarter than trying to save the paltry sum of what could even be a Space Taj Mahal made of marble.

Huntsville has been a massive hub for aerospace, medical, and defense tech for decades now. in 10-15 years it will be THE hub for virtually all things government contracting. A lot flies under the radar what Huntsville does, but taking a glance at how huge CRP is and how fast it is continually growing, and RA as well, will illustrate exactly why Huntsville is being considered.

Even manufacturing is seeing a boom. There are 20+ MM military/aerospace manufacturing start ups in the last 5 years in the region.

I think saying "renovate what you already have!" is incredibly short sighted. Take into account as well that just because they are basing out of somewhere else doesn't mean they have to completely evacuate their current home.

NASA has offices all across the southern US, including HSV, no reason they can't do the same. The delay in confirming the move to Huntsville is what's political. Everyone involved is inherently highly risk adverse and still its essentially a foregone conclusion.