SpaceX already owns swaths of land near Boca Chica Beach. Now it controls 54 acres on South Padre Island

Editor’s Note: A Texas state statute dating back to the 1980s does allow in very limited situations Cameron County to have some zoning oversight if it’s within 2 miles of a beach where more than 500 people visit a year. The SpaceX zoned property is single family dwelling, according to a county representative. It’s unclear whether the site qualifies since it’s 4.7 miles past County Access No. 6. Also unknown is whether 500 people total access the beach that far north on the island.

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation is a notable landowner in Cameron County and an increasingly large one, as the company has been quietly purchasing land for the past few years, deeds show. 

But the majority of its land portfolio is along state highways, whether near State Highway 100, close to Laguna Heights and Port Isabel, or along State Highway 4 on the route to Boca Chica Beach. 

That’s where SpaceX employees helped incorporate the Rio Grande Valley’s newest city, Starbase, which has its own land annexation plan in the works that leaders say is intended to support environmental mitigation and conservation efforts, as well as streamline emergency services. 

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has several limited liability companies he uses to purchase land in Cameron County. SpaceX also owns most of the land where SpaceX employees rent homes or even purchase homes. 

But the company didn’t purchase land on South Padre Island until December 2024, according to Cameron County deeds recorded in January 2025. 

That 54-acre lot, on the far north side of the Island, past the point where State Highway 100 ends, was acquired through a tax resale. 

The tax resale lawsuit dates back to 2016 and was filed by the Point Isabel Independent School District, the City of Port Isabel, South Texas Independent School District, and Texas Southmost College District over unpaid taxes. 

The previous landowner, William Robertson, died, and, according to the deed, the property was transferred to Hannah M. M. as part of his estate. Hannah was served with the lawsuit in 2022 — during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2024, SpaceX paid $38,750 in cash to purchase the lot through its real estate office in Hawthorn, California. In 2026, the taxable value of the land is $218,440. 

Texas is a non-disclosure state regarding land sale prices; public auctions are one exception. So it would be difficult to determine how much SpaceX has spent on acquiring its land portfolio in the Rio Grande Valley. 

Cameron County does not have zoning authority, as no Texas counties do, so there are few restrictions, if any, on what could be built there — if that’s the plan. The land is designated as rural land or open space because it consists of natural sand dunes. 

The SpaceX-controlled lot, which spans from the Gulf Ocean side past the dunes to the Laguna Madre Bay side, has no public roadway for access. 

There’s only beach-side access, which is a public right of way along the shoreline where beach enthusiasts drive 4×4 trucks and jeeps to the Mansfield Cut — or Port Mansfield Channel in Willacy County — for fishing, camping and other outdoor recreation. 

There are already hundreds of acres of land that SpaceX owns but has not built on in years, including some near wildlife refuges, which were used in a land swap with state and federal regulators. 

SpaceX has also acquired land for environmental mitigation, meaning that the destruction of wild land and the construction of rocket-ship manufacturing space are offset by the protection and conservation of other land. 

SpaceX officials did not respond to a request for comment on this story.