New York (CNN) What do you get for the billionaire who has everything? Maybe his own town.
Entities linked to Elon Musk and his companies are said to have acquired thousands of acres of land in Texas in hopes of creating a city where his employees could live and work, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday.
These entities bought at least 3,500 acres near Austin and are in the process of incorporating a town called Snailbrook, an apparent reference to the mascot of Musk’s tunneling business, the Boring Company, according to the Journal .
The report cites county deeds and other land records, as well as city and county emails, internal company communications, state license records, and interviews with landowners and officials. of the city and the county. (CNN has not reviewed all of the land and other documents cited in the Journal’s report.)
Over the years, tech companies have offered many on-campus amenities to recruit workers and sometimes entice them to work longer. By building his own company city, Musk could take this approach even further.
According to the report, Musk wants employees at his companies Boring Co., Tesla and SpaceX — all of which have major production facilities near Austin — “to be able to live in new homes at below-market rents.” Snailbrook’s effort would also include building plans for more than 100 homes, as well as neighborhood features such as a swimming pool and outdoor sports area.
Incorporating a city could also give Musk, who is known to be at odds with state and federal regulators, more say in how things are run.
Musk announced in 2020 that he would move Tesla’s headquarters and personal residence from California to Texas, blaming frustrations with California’s coronavirus restrictions. Last year, Tesla opened a new Gigafactory manufacturing facility in Austin. SpaceX and Musk’s Boring Co. also have facilities in Texas, and Boring Co. has reportedly been in talks with Austin about the possibility of building tunnels in the city, according to a February report from the Austin American Statesman.
Property records from Bastrop County, which is adjacent to Austin, show the Boring Co. owns 11 parcels of land at an address near the Colorado River where mobile homes have been built for the past three years, records show. reviewed by CNN. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is set to hold a meeting on plans for a wastewater treatment plant at the same site, which were submitted by an LLC registered with a Boring Co. executive, according to a public announcement from the meeting.
This same entity also owns a number of parcels of nearby properties including commercial and residential building land and pasture and farmland, according to public records. The Journal reported that Musk’s team discussed incorporating the city into Bastrop County. The county told the Journal that it had not received an application for incorporation, which requires a certain number of residents, from Musk or any of its entities.
Tesla, SpaceX and Boring Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.