For the past few years, Elon Musk has been quietly buying up real estate in a little tiny town outside of Austin.  

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the billionaire plans to build a kind of modern-day “company town” to house employees of his various companies: Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company.

SpaceX
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The planned community is called “Snailbrook” (at least for the time being). 

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The property is actually in the small town of Bastrop, which is about 35 miles due east of downtown Austin on Highway 71.

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Musk has acquired the real estate (reportedly over six thousand acres worth) by purchasing pasture and farmland, according to land records and recently filed deeds.

According to the New York Post, some major construction has already taken place.  

In addition to facilities and warehouses for the Musk-owned companies, the Post reports that a gym, an outdoor arena and several modular homes have already been built.

Why does Musk want to build his own town out in the boonies? 

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According to the Wall Street Journal, so he can avoid the zoning laws and tighter regulations that come with being in a more populated area, such as Austin.

Or…San Francisco, which is where Musk’s Twitter is headquartered. As he complained in 2021, California is the state of “overregulation, overlitigation and overtaxation”.

The Post talked to some of the Texans who sold to Musk. While it sounds like many of them are wistful about “losing the family farm” it sounds like most of them are more than happy with what they got in the deal.

Speaking just for myself, I’ve always valued living CLOSE to my workplace. Living AT my worksite isn’t an idea I would relish.

Especially if the boss is famous the world over for vindictiveness, harboring petty grudges and making rash decisions.  

But, I suppose, Muskville might be SOMEONE’S idea of Utopia.

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