Did Elon Musk Buy Up To 620 Acres Next To The Tesla Gigafactory In Austin?

Elon Musk has been linked to a significant land purchase next to the Tesla Inc TSLA Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

What Happened: The Austin Business Journal reported that an entity called Horse Ranch LLC quietly purchased property earlier this year next to the Tesla Gigafactory. The exact parameters of the acquisition were not immediately clear. The paperwork filed with the Travis County Clerk’s office reported a 620-acre acquisition while records at the Travis Central Appraisal District showed a 300-acre transaction.

The records list Jared Birchall as the manager for Horse Ranch LLC. Birchall also manages Musk’s family office.

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What Happens Next: The Tesla Gigafactory is just outside of Austin on 2,000-acres, mostly unoccupied except for a concrete plant. The area is adjacent to a small section of the Colorado River.

Musk has not publicly acknowledged ownership of the property, nor is it certain if the land will be used for manufacturing or if it will be transformed into the “ecological paradise” for regional wildlife, as he stated in Tesla’s second-quarter 2020 earnings call.

The latter strategy might be pursued, if only for PR purposes. Musk's SpaceX has received negative publicity for its relationship with the Texas ecosystem. Last week, the American Bird Conservancy warned that SpaceX’s Starbase rocket site in Boca Chica, Texas, posed an existential threat to Gulf Coast wildlife. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating if SpaceX poses environmental hazards to the area.

Photo: NASA Kennedy / Flickr Creative Commons