Wait, so spacex actually closed on the land?

benchmark said:

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rocketscience said:

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If I were keeping an eye on sites that are competitors to the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site for the chip fab, I'd be looking at Sandow Lakes in Milam and Lee counties (former Alcoa plant), off the top of my head I can't think of anything else big enough. It is closer to Austin although the plans for the property show many tenants and SpaceX and Tesla typically have full control of their campuses.

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Agree. Sandow has plenty of land (34,000 acres) and as mentioned, it's much closer (1 hour) to Tesla's Austin campus. Makes you wonder because it's hard to imagine why Sandow wouldn't be under serious consideration.

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My statement might have been misunderstood. I think Sandow is an obvious site under consideration but Gibbons Creek Reservoir has clear advantages. Namely, that it can be controlled entirely by SpaceX while Sandow Lakes is (and is likely to remain) a developer-owned campus with many tenants. Keep in mind, we're talking about a company that formed its own city around its headquarters and central research and development facility.

EFR said:

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Wait, so spacex actually closed on the land?

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According to Grok and Claude, yes. I did not independently confirm but challenged both on it twice each. Grok said "unambiguously yes." But they do make mistakes, so…

Thereafter I researched how many times have Musk led companies acquired Brownfield and not moved forward. No such records exist, but records abound of the opposite- quick acquisitions followed by immediate development.

whether it's this or something else, something will come to that site. Something big, I imagine.

Respectfully

Yancy '95 Place 5

Bob Yancy said:

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EFR said:

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Wait, so spacex actually closed on the land?

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According to Grok and Claude, yes. I did not independently confirm but challenged both on it twice each. Grok said "unambiguously yes." But they do make mistakes, so…

Thereafter I researched how many times have Musk led companies acquired Brownfield and not moved forward. No such records exist, but records abound of the opposite- quick acquisitions followed by immediate development.

I hold to this- whether it's this or something else, something will come to that site. Something big, I imagine.

Respectfully

Yancy '95 Place 5

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Any chance we have representation from BCS there at the public hearings?

TyHolden said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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EFR said:

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Wait, so spacex actually closed on the land?

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According to Grok and Claude, yes. I did not independently confirm but challenged both on it twice each. Grok said "unambiguously yes." But they do make mistakes, so…

Thereafter I researched how many times have Musk led companies acquired Brownfield and not moved forward. No such records exist, but records abound of the opposite- quick acquisitions followed by immediate development.

I hold to this- whether it's this or something else, something will come to that site. Something big, I imagine.

Respectfully

Yancy '95 Place 5

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Any chance we have representation from BCS there at the public hearings?

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I thought about going, but those folks deserve to deliberate without College Station loitering around. It's their county. Their land. I don't envy the Grimes County commissioners their decision.

If it passes in any form, in my mind that all changes. The best we could do in that instance is come together as a region and work together. The old silo days will definitely be over. As one member of council and your chair of the Intergovernmental Committee of the BVCOG, it's high time.

A good study is Taylor / Hutto and Samsung. What to do, and not to do. Essential research in my book. Hutto was larger with an established housing base and more restaurants / shopping / hotels so they took an immediate hit. Same dynamic with BCS. Particularly College Station and Navasota, of course- but worth noting College Station is closer to the site than Navasota is, and more directly accessible by roadways.

If it happens, it'll happen to all of us. The scale of this as proposed dwarfs Samsung. So it'll take all of us working together. Do we want to be a case study in how to handle, or not to handle, a project like this? The choice will be ours, together.

Respectfully, and as one member of council

Yancy '95 Place 5

Bob Yancy said:

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According to Grok and Claude, yes. I did not independently confirm but challenged both on it twice each. Grok said "unambiguously yes." But they do make mistakes, so…

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Spitballing but it's extremely doubtful they've closed on the property prior to the tax abatement decision. Much more likely they have a purchase contract with an earnest money deposit and a carefully worded special provisions with due diligence hooks. IMO

I agree with that

benchmark said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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According to Grok and Claude, yes. I did not independently confirm but challenged both on it twice each. Grok said "unambiguously yes." But they do make mistakes, so…

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Spitballing but it's extremely doubtful they've closed on the property prior to the tax abatement decision. Much more likely they have a purchase contract with an earnest money deposit and a carefully worded special provisions with due diligence hooks. IMO

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You may very well be correct.

Respectfully

Yancy '95

a day without news. I guess no news is good news at this point. can we fast-forward to June 4th?

Actually, I believe there is a public comment session tomorrow (Wed. the 13th) and then a closed door session with commissioners and county attorneys. I predict some low grade fireworks then which should overflow onto the Grimes County Citizens against Any Rational Progress Facebook page. Many still posting that it is really a rocket factory going in that will blow their windows out 10 miles away.

oklaunion said:

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Actually, I believe there is a public comment session tomorrow (Wed. the 13th) and then a closed door session with commissioners and county attorneys. I predict some low grade fireworks then which should overflow onto the Grimes County Citizens against Any Rational Progress Facebook page. Many still posting that it is really a rocket factory going in that will blow their windows out 10 miles away.

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Rational progress could possibly have many different meanings for different groups.
If you have lived in a neighborhood all of your life and are accustomed to a 20" lawn mower that will barely fit between your AC unit and the fence and you have never encountered star gazing your definition is most likely different from mine.
I can only imagine the lifestyle changes headed our way for those of us who live in the proximity of this proposed development. Heck Hwy. 30 over the river is already a death trap. Just imagine what it will be like if they ever start the construction proposed several years ago to widen 30 through the river bottom.

I personally believe a land owner should have the right to do with his land whatever he desires as long as it does not infringe on his neighbors.

Wherever site gets this, it's going to be huge.

And a TERAFAB on earth.

Well thats one of the biggest pictures i've seen so far. pic.twitter.com/KowRV9D3Rd

— Renee Aluste (@ReneeAluste) May 12, 2026

Hopefully not around here

Jbob04 said:

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Hopefully not around here

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That's up to the fine folks of Grimes County. Most of us on here are just cheerleaders. And I don't remember a game where the cheerleaders affected the outcome.

I sure hope it comes what a transformational positive to the entire Brazos valley and to the future

If this were to happen, I wonder if it would put the east loop back on the table?

The East Loop is still on the table, with or without this

fcag said:

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If this were to happen, I wonder if it would put the east loop back on the table?

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Elon could just tunnel it. Nobody loses their land.

It should not have been taken off the table. In 20 years we will be complaining that local government did not properly plan and build needed infrastructure. Consider Austin, for example.

happyinBCS said:

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I sure hope it comes what a transformational positive to the entire Brazos valley and to the future

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Amen.

I think you guys should move to execution phase to get this done a pocket the pearl clutching to parking lots in Northgate.

The economic impact dwarfs anything remotely imaginable in the region sans Tamu opening another campus

This is the county that nixed a four lane (10mile) 249 toll road through their county so do not expect progress.

doubledog said:

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This is the county that nixed a four lane (10mile) 249 toll road through their county so do not expect progress.

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That doesn't sound promising…

I see our fearless anchor person weighed in. Someone needs to educate him on what this is. He thinks it's a DC…

See this:

https://perc.tamu.edu/blog/2026/05/terafab.html

doubledog said:

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This is the county that nixed a four lane (10mile) 249 toll road through their county so do not expect progress.

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Sounds like great news to me. Hope the citizens are pressuring the commissioners not to grant an abatement.

Jbob04 said:

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doubledog said:

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This is the county that nixed a four lane (10mile) 249 toll road through their county so do not expect progress.

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Sounds like great news to me. Hope the citizens are pressuring the commissioners not to grant an abatement.

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Then hopefully the talk of not having restaurant, etc like the big cities will end.
And when the AI recession officially starts, we can all say I Told You So…

Works for me. BCS has plenty of restaurants in town. Hell, they have too many honestly.

Jbob04 said:

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Works for me. BCS has plenty of restaurants in town. Hell, they have too many honestly.

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I agree. I don't know why we're expanding 6. University attendance is about to take a huge dive down. No use for it with AI. We'll be back to numbers we had 20 years ago shortly. BCS will be nothing but bars. We'll probably need to get some casinos in the area to stay afloat. Maybe legalize prostitution while we're at it. Great times.

https://wtaw.com/grimes-county-commissioners-hear-from-more-public-speakers-about-the-proposed-space-x-project-at-gibbons-creek-lake-that-includes-supporters/

Impressive graphic from PERC above, albeit I don't understand why the jobs numbers are so low. First phase only? Anticipating automation via robotics? Doesn't include indirect employment? Hard to know. Hmm

Maybe because there aren't as many jobs as they want you to believe once construction is complete. Lots of automation.

You should move to a bigger city if that is what you are wanting. You would do well in California somewhere

Jbob04 said:

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Maybe because there aren't as many jobs as they want you to believe once construction is complete. Lots of automation.

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But can you imagine how many jobs will be created by just building this monstrosity? And that should last for years if it really going to be as large as they are saying. The local school districts will have mega cash to provide the high schoolers with IT training.