Cameron County leaders are thrilled with SpaceX HQ announcement

Billionaire founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk is so mad at the governor of California that he’s moving the company’s headquarters from Hawthorne, a suburb of Los Angeles, to SpaceX’s Starbase compound at Boca Chica.

At least that’s what Musk posted on X on Tuesday in reaction to a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom barring school policies that require teachers to inform parents if their child changes gender identification while in school.

“This is the final straw,” Musk posted on the social media platform, which he owns. “Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.”

Hawthorne’s million-square-foot campus houses the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket engineering and production facilities as well as corporate offices. SpaceX reported in a court filing last year that it has 13,000 employees across the country. Presumably a large percentage of those are in Hawthorne.

But what portion of that percentage Musk wants to move to Starbase, he hasn’t said. It’s also unknown how many Hawthorne employees would be willing to relocate to deep South Texas.

Nonetheless, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen was thrilled with the announcement.

“I think it’s fantastic news,” he said. “That’s always been a goal for us, to have companies have their headquarters in Brownsville — major companies.”

Starbase is outside Brownsville city limits, though the city has felt a significant economic impact from SpaceX’s presence nearby and the 2,000-plus people who work at Starbase (Cowen estimates it’s close to 3,000 now, with SpaceX’s expansion of Starship and Super Heavy production). At the same time, it has further tightened an already-tight housing market — especially affordable housing.

The mayor predicted the relocation of headquarters would mean more high-paying jobs for the area, many more people traveling to and from the city, and more business for the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport.

“I think that it creates a lot more visibility for Brownsville,” Cowen said. “SpaceX is the most valuable aerospace company in the world. It’s an amazing thing to be able to say that you have SpaceX in your backyard, and their headquarters are coming to Brownsville.”

He said Brownsville would benefit from the extra SpaceX employees and predicted the company would expand the residential component of Starbase to accommodate the influx. Cowen said more housing would be built in and around the city as well.

“It just means more investment in our area,” he said. “That’ll bring more investment in our infrastructure as well.”

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. called Musk’s announcement “very welcome and positive news.”

“We’re still cautiously awaiting the exact details of what that could mean and the specifics associated with such a potential relocation,” he said. “So far when he’s said he’s going to do something he does follow through on it. We’re banking on that, but we are still awaiting the details from him or SpaceX executive decision makers. We hope that it brings a lot more positive attention, growth, jobs and even more potential in the space industry.”

Treviño conceded housing is something county communities have been grappling with in recent years, and that it’s not likely to be solved in the short term. But if the county does see a new influx of SpaceX people, the housing issue will be solved one way or another, he said.

“I think that just means that we’re going to have to be building a lot more housing: homes, apartments, duplexes — everything associated with it,” he said. “And instead of looking at it only as a potential problem, I think we should be looking at it as a potential positive asset and development.”

Treviño said SpaceX owns a lot of land around Starbase and that more residential space likely would be built to house additional employees if needed.

“I think what we’ll probably be seeing is … whatever development they can do (and) continued development countywide,” he said. “Not just in Brownsville but countywide: Los Fresnos, San Benito, Harlingen, Combes, Primera, La Feria — even Hidalgo (County). I know a lot of people that live in Hidalgo that are working (at SpaceX). It should be a plus for everyone.”

Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda extended an invitation not only to SpaceX employees needing a place to live but also to SpaceX corporate.

“While the move of headquarters to Starbase is still under consideration, it presents an exciting opportunity for our region,” she said in a statement. “Harlingen is already home to many SpaceX employees, thanks to our central location and outstanding quality of life. … The relocation would create numerous jobs and opportunities for our residents.”

Sepulveda said Harlingen is ready to house additional SpaceX employees and is “well suited for headquarters operations.”

“Harlingen offers a supportive business environment, robust infrastructure and a strong sense of community that make it location for both residential and corporation expansion,” she said.

Nick Mitchell-Bennett, executive director of the nonprofit Come Dream Come Build, which is committed to increasing the availability of quality, affordable housing for low-income residents, said Brownsville and Cameron County better get ready.

“It’s exciting and could be a huge game changer for our community,” he said. “But if our population grows too big too fast, it will put a massive strain on the housing market.”

In those situations, it’s typically low-income residents who feel it the soonest and suffer the longest lasting impact, Mitchell-Bennett said.

“We just need to be prepared as soon as possible,” he said.