A Once Sleepy Bedroom Community Is Now Considered the Town That Elon Musk Built

BASTROP, Texas — Rolling eastbound on Highway 71 surrounded by live oak, pecan, and Texas pistache trees, it’s hard to imagine the barren plains of oil-rich Midland, Texas, 350 miles away, recently catapulted into the spotlight thanks to Taylor Sheridan’s new streaming hit, “Landman.”The lush greenery lining the five-lane highway southeast of Austin greets travelers entering the Bastrop County seat. Typical in America, the outskirts of Bastrop city feature a Home Depot and Lowe’s Improvement competing for directional traffic. Best Western and Hampton Inn welcome budget travelers. A WalMart Supercenter sits at a convenient intersection at the 150 Loop heading into the town’s main thoroughfare.Crossing the Colorado River onto Chestnut Street, small businesses like Abelito’s Cafe, Yoli’s Tacos, and the Best L’il Hairhouse in Texas dot the storefronts. A few steps farther is Bastrop’s Town Hall, where the Bastrop Planning Department has been operating at warp speed the past couple years, even though the town of 14,000 residents was incorporated in 1832.Sheridan, a massive landowner in Texas, isn’t the only one capitalizing on the Lone Star State’s many amenities. The rapid-fire growth of Bastrop, a once quiet town 40 minutes from the state capitol, is rooted in an industry boom that started when serial entrepreneur Elon Musk became a landman in his own right and bought 600 acres at Bastrop to build facilities for his multiple enterprises. Since early 2021, Mr. Musk has been moving out of California for the more business-friendly pastures of the Texas Hill Country. The Boring Company, Space X, and Starlink now sit on a compound located among ranches and farmland. Mr. Musk’s X, formally Twitter, will move to a 100,000 square-foot facility on the compound’s Hyperloop Plaza. The developments have fueled a rush of new residents to Bastrop due to its proximity to the Austin Metropolitan Area and a recent tech boom of its own. Since 2020 this sleepy little burg’s population has grown by nearly 20 percent with a consistent growth rate of 5 percent each year. It is estimated that the town’s population will increase another 42 percent over the next five years, increasing the population to 20,000.Bastrop County’s overall population rose nearly 14 percent between April 2020 and July 2023, according to U.S. Census data.Locals have mixed feelings about the pace of growth at Bastrop and the surrounding county.“I deal with customers every day that complain about how their life was in California; how if you’re not wealthy, you ain’t going to survive out there,” the owner of Chubby’s Barbershop on Main Street and a lifelong resident of Bastrop, Christopher Higgins, said. “They’re finding happiness here. … We’re all happy, but we don’t want to lose that small charm either.”The owner of Chubby’s Barbershop on Main Street and a lifelong resident of Bastrop, Christopher Higgins, said, “We’re all happy, but we don’t want to lose that small charm either.” Perry Chiaramonte/The New York Sun“I think I share the same opinion with a lot of other people in the community. The growth is good, but it’s too quick,” a painter and artisan who operates a gallery on Main Street and has been living in the region since 2011, Mike Salvo, told The New York Sun. ”If we are going to grow another 40 percent like they predict, that’s huge, and our infrastructure needs to be able to handle that. “Mr. Musk, bring your big toys here and enjoy our small town, but we want to [grow] smartly,” he added.Mr. Musk has certainly come to play. On Farm to Market Road 1209, about 15 minutes north of Bastrop’s quaint downtown, sits a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Mr. Musk’s Starlink satellite systems. Construction is ongoing and is expected to double in size before an official launch in 2025.Directly across the street is a research and manufacturing facility for Mr. Musk’s urban planning and underground transportation venture, The Boring Company. Nearby is Hyperloop Plaza, where employees can grab lunch or a drink at The Boring Bodega, head to the hanger-size commissary for other amenities, or stop at the barber shop, game room, and pickleball courts. Court filings in September showed that X had signed a three-year commercial lease at Hyperloop Plaza, effectively making Mr. Musk his own landlord, according to the San Antonio Express-News.“The growth is good, but it’s too quick,” a painter and artisan who operates a gallery on Main Street and has been living in the region since 2011, Mike Salvo, said. Perry Chiaramonte/The New York SunIn response to the explosive growth, Bastrop officials are working overtime to improve the community’s infrastructure.The county has several projects to enhance the roadways, including widening State Highway 21 to four lanes from two and building new overpasses atop State Highway 71. The Bastrop city manager, Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino, told The New York Sun that a new wastewater facility will allow Mr. Musk to develop beyond Hyperloop Plaza. “We do see a great number of people here from California and other areas that didn’t live here before, and we’re dealing with it. When we put surveys out, we know there are quality of life issues that different folks are going to want to see, so we are working towards our master plans,” she said.The new wastewater facility will enable the completion of multiple housing developments under construction in the sparse northern region of Bastrop. Mr. Musk himself is seeking to build a whole new town from the ground up for his employees.The proposed community, named Snailbrook, a reference to The Boring Company’s mascot, already has modular homes sitting on the land behind The Boring Company facility. Originally sited for 100 homes, the plan has since been scaled down in favor of two other development projects in the area, including Snailbrook 2, which will contain 21 two- and three-bedroom houses and another development codenamed “Project Amazing.” The planned development of 110 homes down the road from Hyperloop Plaza could offer a lease-to-buy option for prospective homeowners. Mr. Musk has also gained approval from the county to operate a new Montessori school.Ad-Astra, Latin for the phrase “to the stars,” received its initial operating permit from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission earlier this week and will eventually offer STEM-focused education.The school will start small, operating out of a small farmhouse located one street from the cluster of Musk’s companies. Pupils between 3 and 6 years old will attend a pre-kindergarten class initially, with plans to eventually hold classes for K through 12 students, according to a report from Fortune.

A Once Sleepy Bedroom Community Is Now Considered the Town That Elon Musk Built

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