New York
CNN
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What do you get for the billionaire who has all the things? Maybe his personal city.
Entities related to Elon Musk and his firms have reportedly been buying hundreds of acres of land in Texas with the hope of beginning a city the place his workers may stay and work, in line with a report from the Wall Road Journal Thursday.
These entities have bought no less than 3,500 acres close to Austin and are within the technique of working towards incorporating a city referred to as Snailbrook, an obvious reference to the mascot of Musk’s tunneling agency, the Boring Firm, in line with the Journal.
The report cites county deeds and different land information, in addition to metropolis and county emails, inner firm communications, state licensing information and interviews with land homeowners and metropolis and county officers. (CNN has not reviewed all the land and different information cited within the Journal report.)
Through the years, tech firms have supplied quite a few facilities on campus to recruit employees and generally incentivize them to place in longer hours. By constructing out an organization city of his personal, Musk may take that method even additional.
Based on the report, Musk desires workers at his firms Boring Co., Tesla and SpaceX — all of which have main manufacturing amenities close to Austin — “to have the ability to stay in new houses with below-market rents.” The Snailbrook effort additionally reportedly consists of plans to construct greater than 100 houses, in addition to neighborhood options akin to a pool and outside sports activities space.
Incorporating a city may additionally give Musk, who has been identified to conflict with state and federal regulators, extra say over how issues are run.
Musk in 2020 introduced he would transfer Tesla’s headquarters and his private residence from California to Texas, blaming frustrations with California’s coronavirus-related restrictions. Final yr, Tesla opened a brand new Gigafactory manufacturing facility in Austin. Musk’s SpaceX and Boring Co. even have amenities in Texas, and Boring Co. has reportedly been in talks with Austin about the potential of constructing tunnels within the metropolis, in line with a February report from the Austin American Statesman.
Property information for Bastrop County, which is adjoining to Austin, present that the Boring Co. owns 11 parcels of land on one handle close to the Colorado River the place cell houses had been constructed over the previous three years, in line with information reviewed by CNN. The Texas Fee on Environmental High quality is ready to carry a gathering on plans for a wastewater remedy plant on the identical website, which had been submitted by an LLC registered to a Boring Co. government, in line with a public announcement of the assembly.
That very same entity additionally owns plenty of parcels of close by property comprising industrial and residential constructing plots and pasture and farming land, public information present. The Journal reported that Musk’s group has mentioned incorporating the city in Bastrop County. The county advised the Journal that it had not obtained an software for incorporation, which requires a sure variety of residents, from Musk or any of his entities.
Tesla, SpaceX and Boring Co. didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the report.