Tesla Town? Elon Musk Is Reportedly Building His Own Texas ‘Utopia’ for Employees to Live in

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Tesla founder Elon Musk is no stranger to doing business in Texas. Tesla’s global headquarters are in the Austin area, as are Boring Company offices, and SpaceX facilities and a Neuralink campus are underway. The new Twitter owner has also been buying up land all around those properties over the past few years, and details have only just started to fully come out about the extent of his plans for the area.

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Musk has reportedly been planning to develop a town for his employees to live in, which he plans to call Snailbrook (the name of the Boring Company mascot). The tech CEO allegedly has his eye on a portion of Bastrop County 35 miles outside Austin and has described the venture as a “Texas utopia” where his workers could live in newer houses for cheaper rents—all under his control.

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These aren’t just idle musings: The town is reportedly already under construction, with a Bastrop County site across from new Boring and SpaceX facilities already furnished with a set of modular homes, a pool, and a gym. County officials have approved street names in the area such as “Boring Boulevard,” “Cutterhead Crossing,” and “Waterjet Way.” Signs even hang from poles in the area with the line: “Welcome, snailbrook, tx, est. 2021.”

April 7, 2022, Austin, Texas, USA: Tesla CEO ELON MUSK addresses the invited 15,000 guests at the new Tesla Gigafactory Texas near Austin during its private grand opening event. The plant is the largest manufacturing facility in the U.S. and will gear up to turn out over 1,000 electric cars per day. 07 Apr 2022 Pictured: April 7, 2022, Austin, Texas, USA: Some of the invited 15,000 guests outside the new Tesla Gigafactory Texas near Austin during its private grand opening event. The plant is the largest manufacturing facility in the U.S. and will gear up to turn out over 1,000 electric cars per day. Photo credit: ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA845957_001.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]
Elon Musk addresses the invited 15,000 guests at the new Tesla Gigafactory Texas near Austin.

One company associated with Musk, Gapped Bass, has reportedly filed paperwork to build 110 more homes in the area for something it calls “Project Amazing,” for which it has partnered with home construction company Lennar. And as of last year, Boring Company employees were allegedly already able to apply for homes run by Musk, with “rents starting at about $800 a month for a two- or three-bedroom,” a competitive figure for the area.

The Journal wasn’t able to nail down the exact amount of land Musk owns in the area—it’s at least 3,500 acres, but other sources’ estimates go up to 6,000 acres. Some sellers in these transactions were reportedly required to sign nondisclosure agreements, as were some local development officials, and many of the sources spoken to for the story say they get the sense that Musk reportedly wants this project to go as quickly and quietly as possible. One local landowner expressed concern about the lack of transparency around Musk’s goals and fears of the environmental impact of the large-scale development he has in mind.

If Snailbrook goes the way Musk wants it to, an even larger community isn’t off the table: the Journal reviewed text messages that suggested Musk has also reportedly considered building an entire city in Texas. Exact details of the types of houses he wants to build haven’t yet been uncovered, but the article says he allegedly used to discuss his plans with both ex-girlfriend Grimes and Kanye West, who has had his own big plans for building entire communities over the years.

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