SpaceX bought land worth at least $2.1 million on South Padre Island, so we visited the public beach next door

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation quietly acquired 54 acres of land on South Padre Island several miles north of where the public road ends — land that could be worth anywhere between $2.1 million and $2.9 million and was purchased for $38,750, according to a comparable sale in recent years. 

There’s public access to the beachfront view of where SpaceX’s dunes begin, just like on Boca Chica Beach, a peninsula that sits just east of the city of Brownsville in Cameron County. 

On a recent visit to one of the company’s newest parcels of land, acquired in December 2024, there were no structures on the property visible from the public beach. 

But that could change. 

SpaceX would likely be required to coordinate with Cameron County. Counties typically do not have zoning authority, but Cameron County does have some control over some sections of unincorporated South Padre Island according to an obscure state statute dating back to 1987. Willacy County is offered a similar zoning model on the island as well. 

State statute requires that the property be within two miles of a publicly owned park or recreational development, or within two miles of a beach, wharf, or bathhouse used by at least 500 people each year. It was not clear whether the far north side of South Padre Island would qualify under that distinction, but a county representative said the property is zoned single-family residential but is open space. 

SpaceX bought the land at a steep discount, paying $38,750 in 2024, records show. 

The discount was possible because the heir of the land did not pay taxes to the local school district and college and it went to tax sale. This is a rare moment of sale price disclosure since Texas is a non-disclosure state in terms of sale price. 

A similar tract of land, only 18 acres, was listed for sale at $995,000 in 2019 and was taken off the market pending sale in 2021 for $725,000, records show. That’s roughly $55,200 per acre in listing and $40,200 per acre as the likely sale price. Extrapolated, that puts SpaceX’s land worth between $2.175 million and $2.985 million in 2019 dollars. 

“Excellent development site or just an excellent investment opportunity for the future. With South Padre being joined to the RGV MPO [Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization], the construction of the second causeway is now becoming a higher priority,” the listing for the tract of land sold in 2021 stated. 

The SpaceX property is also inside a federal Opportunity Zone, which enables developers to delay capital gains tax if they roll profits into a qualified opportunity fund. That means SpaceX is poised to reap tax benefits if it does decide to build there. 

The second $1 billion South Padre Island causeway, proposed by the Texas Department of Transportation, showed two main routes — one of which could be near the proposed $1 billion desalination plant and the other closer to the South Padre Island Convention Center, which is also expected to be expanded. 

The SpaceX-owned property sits roughly 2.5 miles north of where Texas Highway 100 ends, or nearly 5 miles from where Cameron County’s Beach Access No. 6 entrance is located off the highway. 

The sand dunes, which sit between the Laguna Madre Bay and the Gulf Coast ocean, appeared untouched as of July 17. Nearby, there were signs to watch out for sea turtles and a sea turtle patrol buggy on a recent weekday. 

Sea Turtle Inc., the conservation group, owns land on the north side of South Padre Island too — roughly 10 acres of land a few parcels south of the SpaceX property. 

To the immediate north of the SpaceX property is 27 acres owned by Long Island Development Company LLC, operated by the estate of McAllen-based attorney Mark Freeland and governed by Jayne Freeland, records show. Freeland has owned that property since 2001, deeds show. 

To the immediate south of the SpaceX property is 26 acres owned by the Nicholas Iatomase Trust, which has a mailing address in North Richland Hills, Texas near Fort Worth. 

There are dozens of other landowners on the north side of the Island many of which are private but also public. That includes the U.S. government because there are protected sections, like the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which is a 35-acre tract near Texas Highway 100, but none of U.S. government-owned land parcels adjacent to SpaceX’s land. 

SpaceX is working on a massive land swap with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 700 acres of land it owns, mostly near Boca Chica Beach and along Texas State Highway 100 in Laguna Heights. 

The idea is for the company to expand its rocket-launch manufacturing site, the city of Starbase neighborhoods, launch pad, and associated retail development while preserving land outside its immediate footprint as environmental mitigation or an offset. 

That move is being challenged in court by environmental groups in South Texas and beyond. 

The city of Starbase is also in the process of annexing — not acquiring, but bringing into its jurisdiction — about 7,100 acres of land in its immediate vicinity. The land that would expand the city’s size and scope includes wildlife land.

But SpaceX’s newer land acquisition on South Padre Island of 54 acres is not expected to be part of the federal land swap deal, as it does not appear on the maps submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, documents show. 

Near Boca Chica Beach, SpaceX has acquired hundreds of properties over the years and the right-of-way to build private roads. It’s unclear whether the company plans to do anything industrial, commercial, or residential on South Padre Island. 

SpaceX already has a fishing land lease from the Port of Brownsville, which it negotiated this summer so its employees can have a fish camp near Starbase, records show. SpaceX is also negotiating a lease at the port for a 50-year period in connection to its rocket operations. 

SpaceX has not responded to repeated requests for an interview about its plans for the South Padre Island property.