A city for his employees: Elon Musk would buy thousands of hectares in Texas and take on the construction of an entire city …
Here’s the latest evidence of Elon Musk’s megalomania: The billionaire head of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter intends to build an entire city for his employees. According to The Wall Street Journal, which was able to get acquainted with the notarial deeds, the future city will be built on thousands of acres of agricultural land that the businessman just purchased a few kilometers from Austin, the capital of Texas. Work has already begun in this area. It was known that Elon Musk intended to build warehouses and manufacturing sites there for The Boring Co., his car tunnel drilling company, as well as for SpaceX, his rocket and satellite company.
But the fact that the businessman wanted to build a residential area there was still not known. After the “Welcome Snailbrook, TX Early 2021” announcement posted on Twitter, there are already several houses, a pool, an outdoor playground and a gym. And these amenities will only be the first stones of a much larger project. “Snailbrook” (derived from snail, or snail in French) is a reference to The Boring Co.’s mascot. When Elon Musk started a startup, he would have challenged his employees to build drilling machines that move “faster than a snail.” Over the past three years, Elon Musk is said to have acquired, directly or indirectly, an area four times the size of New York’s Central Park in the area.
Snailbrook is a trailer park for @boringcompany employees (and their families) in Bastrop, Texas pic.twitter.com/kwoqMBqS2z
— Chap Ambrose (@chapambrose) November 22, 2022
The promise of low rent and pleasant living environment
What should the project consist of? It will be a place for his employees to live, who will benefit from ideal living conditions at moderate rents – about $800 per month for one- and two-bedroom houses versus $2,200 per month in the real estate market. . Incoming employees will have 30 days to vacate the premises in the event of termination or resignation. When contacted, Elon Musk did not respond to requests for comment from our colleagues.
“Imagine if you could live in a place that had the vibe and friendliness of Twitter! And what’s even better, your home can enjoy the same security as your work! “, jokes a surfer on Twitter, referring to the atmosphere of terror that currently reigns in the corridors of the company. However, this opinion is shared by many analysts who wonder if the project of the man who laid off thousands of employees over the past months and day and night is really requires investment from its employees is a good idea.
Read also: Cars, rockets, robots and AI: why Elon Musk’s Master Plan 3 could change everything
There have been company-built towns in history, but the experience has not necessarily been conclusive, as in coal towns or textile towns, where workers often lived in poverty. No wonder this project is being built in Texas. In recent years, Elon Musk has moved from California to this state with lower environmental and labor protection requirements. And, above all, Texas, unlike California, has a more than favorable tax regime for business.
Source :
Wall Street Magazine