“He owns on the north side of me,” Cross told KBTX. “And then he owns on the west side of me.”
Cross is trying to sell the property, but so far, doing so has been difficult.
The plant is called Terafab. SpaceX and Tesla say it will cover more than 100 million square feet, which is over five times the floor space of the largest building standing anywhere on the planet today. Musk, himself, posted on X that “Terafab Texas will be the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far,” adding that “it will be stunningly beautiful.”
The people who live around it, however, are concerned. Marie Egyed, who heads the Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development, told Realtor.com that a building that size would drag in heavy traffic, create tons of road work, bring in an influx of workers and demand more RV parks and gas stations.
“What about our dreams?” she told Realtor.com. “We saved up our entire lives to buy this property out here to live out in the country.”
The deal the county made
Commissioners approved the development of the reinvestment zone surrounding the manufacturing facility and a tax abatement in two separate 4-1 votes in June. SpaceX pays no property tax on the site at all with a full 100% abatement. Instead it’ll pay $10 million upfront, then $20 million every year for the next 35 years.
That’s serious money for a county whose fiscal 2026 budget projected just over $38 million in total revenue. Grimes County Precinct 2 Commissioner David Tullos, who voted no, argued that the payment is locked for 35 years while inflation is not so, “at the end of that 35 years, that $20 million is no longer worth $20 million,” he told Fox. “It’s worth significantly less.”
Then there’s the state’s contribution. Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office put in a $30 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant and says the first phase runs $16.8 billion and brings 3,000 jobs. But Grimes County’s own hearing documents put that same phase at $55 billion, and SpaceX says the plant will employ at least 1,800 people once it’s running.
What it does to the houses right next to it
Chad Hovde, co-chair of the Bryan College Station Regional Association of Realtors Government Affairs Committee, has seen developments like this play out before. When land goes industrial, the property right beside it takes time to find its footing again. After all, what made the land desirable isn’t there anymore.
“It would have always been a peaceful country setting,” Hovde told KBTX. “But now it will begin transitioning to more of a commercial corridor.”
