What Is Being Built in Bastrop County, Texas Right Now (2026)
Bastrop County has spent most of its history as ranch land and small towns southeast of Austin. In 2026, it is one of the fastest changing corners of Texas. The population has crossed 117,000 and is projected to reach roughly 130,000 within five years. Behind that number is a wave of construction that spans satellites, semiconductors, jet engines, film studios, and one of the largest data center corridors in the country.
Here is an honest, current look at who is building here right now, and what is coming next.
The anchor: SpaceX and the Musk footprint
The single biggest story in the county is SpaceX. The company is expanding its solar production facility on FM 1209 into an 11 million square foot campus, informally called the “Gigasat,” which would make it larger than Tesla’s Gigafactory near the Austin airport. The stated goal is ambitious even by Musk standards: manufacturing satellites to put data centers in orbit, with a target of 6,500 satellites launched by the end of 2027.
That is layered on top of an already deep presence. A separate expansion of roughly half a million square feet is planned to house a SpaceX semiconductor research and advanced packaging facility, a project reported to add more than 400 jobs. A parking garage tied to SpaceX and The Boring Company, estimated near $20 million, is under construction and expected to run into early 2027.
Zoom out and the Musk footprint in Bastrop County now spans several thousand acres. It includes The Boring Company on its original tract, the Starlink manufacturing facility, and the headquarters of X, which relocated from San Francisco in 2024. The company town of Snailbrook continues to take shape alongside them.
The data center corridor in Cedar Creek
If SpaceX is the headline, the emerging data center corridor near Cedar Creek is the story with the largest long term footprint. As of mid 2026, three EdgeConneX campuses are in various stages of development and review, spanning close to 1,500 acres with a combined investment reported to exceed $2 billion.
The first campus is the furthest along. Located near Wolf Lane and FM 535, the initial building is a two story, roughly 578,000 square foot facility valued at about $440 million, with completion expected this summer. It is the first of four buildings planned for that campus.
The second campus is larger still. Sitting on properties along FM 535, it covers roughly 951 acres with about $1.4 billion in planned capital improvements. Two buildings are currently proposed, with additional buildings anticipated in future phases. EdgeConneX has also acquired a nearby 180 acre parcel, which reporting suggests may support a mixed use commercial development.
The county approved a 10 year property tax abatement for the project in December 2024, structured as a 75 percent break on new value above the 2024 base. The reasoning from county leadership has been consistent: convert land that generated almost nothing in taxes into a major contributor. Precinct 4 Commissioner David Glass has pointed to first year estimates in the range of tens of millions of dollars for Bastrop ISD, with additional millions flowing to the county and emergency services districts.
A grounded caveat worth keeping in view. Data centers are capital heavy but not labor heavy. The first campus is expected to create around 60 permanent jobs even at its full scale, so the case for these projects rests on the tax base and construction activity rather than long term headcount. Power and water figures are still being finalized as the projects move through review, and the honest position is to report them as they are confirmed rather than as they are projected.
Advanced manufacturing takes root
Beyond the Musk orbit, a genuine manufacturing base is forming in and around the City of Bastrop.
Acutronic, a Swiss aerospace and defense firm, acquired nearly 14 acres to build what is described as the only jet engine manufacturing facility in Texas and one of the only micro turbine plants in the country. The project represents a multi million dollar investment and at least 50 high skill, high wage jobs.
Coltzin, a tortilla chip manufacturer, broke ground on a 60,000 square foot facility in 2025, with completion targeted for the fall of 2026.
The Bastrop Business and Industrial Park now hosts a mix of international companies, including Korean power equipment maker LS Electric, Canadian adhesives maker Technical Adhesives, and UK clinical trial supply firm Caligor Coghlan. For a park established in the 1990s, that international mix is a meaningful signal of where the county is headed.
Lights, camera, Bastrop
One of the more unexpected clusters is film production. Bastrop County has earned a designation as a Texas Media Production Zone, which comes with sales tax rebates for qualified projects, and two major studios are building on that advantage.
Wyldwood Studios, led by actor Zachary Levi, is a 75 acre development with a projected annual economic impact north of $200 million from production, jobs, and tourism. Line 204 Studio, led by Alton Butler, is a much larger 545 acre purpose built production site along the Colorado River. Together they position the county as a real production destination rather than an occasional filming location.
Energy, housing, and the retail wave
Growth of this speed puts pressure on housing and infrastructure, and the market is responding.
On the energy side, a $26 million solar farm spanning roughly 900 acres is set for completion in 2026, supporting the region’s power needs during a period of surging demand.
On housing, the pipeline is substantial. Casata is bringing a 150 unit microhome rental community. Adelton, one of the county’s largest master planned communities, is delivering more than 1,200 residential units alongside 125,000 square feet of commercial space. Sendero, a $300 million mixed use project at Highway 71 and FM 969, will ultimately include 782 residential units, a hotel, and more than 250,000 square feet of retail and professional space.
That retail momentum is visible everywhere. Sprouts Farmers Market, LongHorn Steakhouse, First Watch, PetSmart, and Aspen Dental have all opened in 2026, with Texas Roadhouse, a second McDonald’s, Scooter’s Coffee, and a Courtyard by Marriott all on the way. A significant H-E-B plus expansion is adding 18,000 square feet and an in store True Texas BBQ. None of these are headline grabbing on their own, but together they are the everyday infrastructure of a community that is quickly filling in.
What comes next
The near term picture is clear. Expect the first EdgeConneX data center to come online this summer, the second campus to move deeper into review, and the SpaceX Gigasat buildout to dominate the industrial story through 2027. Manufacturing, film, housing, and retail will keep filling in around those anchors.
The longer term question is the one every fast growing community eventually faces: how to welcome this investment while protecting the roads, water, schools, and small town character that made Bastrop County worth investing in to begin with. The projects breaking ground today will define the tax base and the job market for the next decade. The choices the community makes around infrastructure and planning will define whether that growth feels like opportunity or like strain.
Bastrop County is no longer a quiet place on the map between Austin and Houston. It is being built into something new, in real time. The work now is to build it well.
Building Bastrop County tracks the projects, companies, and decisions shaping our county’s future. Have a project we should be watching? Get in touch.