We were afraid Elon had given up on the promised land a few weeks ago when we learned he was relocating Tesla's engineering HQ back to California. But it turns out that the mad lad has even bigger plans for the Lone Star State.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk wants to build a Texas utopia, his own town.
Elon Musk is planning to build his own town on part of thousands of acres of newly purchased pasture and farmland outside the Texas capital, according to deeds and other land records and people familiar with the project.
In meetings with landowners and real-estate agents, Mr. Musk and employees of his companies have described his vision as a sort of Texas utopia along the Colorado River, where his employees could live and work.
Executives at the Boring Co., Mr. Musk's tunnel operation, have discussed and researched incorporating the town in Bastrop County, about 35 miles from Austin, which would allow Mr. Musk to set some regulations in his own municipality and expedite his plans, according to people familiar with Mr. Musk's projects.
Hey, as long as he's not actually IN Austin.
It sounds like Elon has big plans and being in Texas with minimal government regulation is definitely a big pull.
They say Mr. Musk and his top executives want his Austin-area employees, including workers at Boring, electric-car maker Tesla Inc. and space and exploration company SpaceX, to be able to live in new homes with below-market rents.
The planned town is adjacent to Boring and SpaceX facilities now under construction. The site already includes a group of modular homes, a pool, an outdoor sports area and a gym, according to Facebook photos and people familiar with the town. Signs hanging from poles read "welcome, snailbrook, tx, est. 2021."
Snailbrook is a reference to Boring's mascot. When Mr. Musk started the tunneling venture, he challenged employees to build boring machines that move "faster than a snail."
"Snailbrook." You know, that sounds a lot like a small southern town to me.
It'll fit right in with Texas.
Some local real-estate and land officials said they have been told by people close to Mr. Musk that the billionaire owns even more land in the area — as much as 6,000 acres.
When Mr. Musk left his longtime home of California more than two years ago, he said he had lost patience with rules and regulations in that state, where Tesla and Boring were then headquartered before moving to Texas. California is the land of "overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation," he said in December 2021.
Texas has fewer zoning laws and environmental and labor requirements, and has vast swaths of loosely regulated land. Unlike California, it has no corporate income tax or income or capital-gains taxes on individuals.
Musk appears to be developing farm land into neighborhoods and housing affordable for his employees since Austin is a fairly expensive market.
As of last year, Boring employees could apply for a home with rents starting at about $800 a month for a two- or three-bedroom, according to an advertisement for employees viewed by the Journal and people familiar with the plans. If an employee leaves or is fired, he or she would have to vacate the house within 30 days, those people said.
The median rent in Bastrop, Texas, is about $2,200 a month, according to real-estate listing company Zillow Group Inc.
Executives have discussed opening the houses to all employees of Mr. Musk's companies.
