Port of Brownsville Acreage Listed Near Elon Musk’s Starbase

A massive parcel in the Port of Brownsville is up for grabs for the first time in nearly a century as a boom in regional logistics — and Elon Musk’s nearby company town — fuels investor interest in South Texas.

Vista Del Mar Irrigation Company listed the 302 acres for sale. JLL’s Mark Nicholas, Will Clay, Angela Watford and Martin Gutierrez have the listing and are marketing it as a rare opportunity in one of the country’s most rapidly transforming trade gateways, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. The land sits on the north side of the port’s ship channel and includes 7,200 feet of highway frontage.

Vista Del Mar Chairman Laurence Jones cited the port’s growing importance in industry as the motivation to sell. The company has owned the land since 1928.

The Port of Brownsville plans to expand its operations into container cargo, a significant shift from its bulk-focused operations, and a potential catalyst for surrounding industrial growth. About 1.1 million metric tons of cargo moved through the port last year.

It also comes as the area’s most famous resident, SpaceX, is expanding.

Musk has incorporated his Starbase complex into a company town with prefab housing for about 500 people, mostly SpaceX employees and their families. Legislation is in motion that could grant the private town’s commissioners the power to restrict public beach access during weekday launch activity.

Musk’s presence in Texas also includes the headquarters of Tesla in Austin and the Boring Company and X in Bastrop. The Boring Company is facing community backlash to its plans for a tunnel that would create an eight-minute commute from downtown Nashville to the Nashville International Airport.

Tesla this week signed a $1.6 billion deal with Samsung, which is building a semiconductor plant in the Austin suburb Taylor. The plant will produce Tesla’s next-generation A16 chips.

— Judah Duke