Why It Matters
The University of Louisiana System approved a lease giving SpaceX access to five acres on Pecan Island for improvements connected to the planned Starbase Louisiana launch facility in Vermilion Parish. The agreement comes as UL Lafayette manages ongoing budget problems that have included layoffs and other austerity measures.
What Happened
The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors approved a lease agreement involving property owned by UL Lafayette. The five-acre parcel formerly housed Pecan Island High School, which closed after Hurricane Rita damaged the school in 2005.
UL Lafayette received the property through a donation last year and currently leases it to an affiliated nonprofit for $1 per year. Under the approved arrangement, the nonprofit would sublease the property to SpaceX.
SpaceX would make improvements to the property and its buildings. The sublease attachment describes those improvements, but the UL System did not provide the attachment to board members before Thursday’s meeting. A public-records request was made for the document, and the system has not responded.
The lease is intended to support development of Starbase Louisiana and UL Lafayette’s educational, research, workforce-development and public-service missions. The documents did not include details about a possible sale of the property.
Chris Herring said the arrangement follows board procedures for leasing and selling university property. He also said the university would receive fair-market rent if the project is delayed or sale proceeds once a sale takes place later next year.
By the Numbers
5 acres — size of the university property.
2005 — year Pecan Island High School closed after Hurricane Rita damage.
$1 per year — rent paid by the affiliated nonprofit.
$100 billion — planned cost of SpaceX’s Starbase Louisiana launch facility.
More than $340,000 — parcel value for tax year 2027.
Roughly $72,000 per acre — parcel value for tax year 2027.
$152 per acre — value of undeveloped property just west of the parcel.
Zoom Out
SpaceX is moving forward with the planned $100 billion launch facility on Pecan Island. The university property agreement places a former school site within that broader development while preserving a potential rental or sale return for UL Lafayette.
The parcel’s stated value for tax year 2027 is more than $340,000, or roughly $72,000 per acre. Undeveloped property immediately west of the parcel is valued at $152 per acre.
What’s Next
SpaceX would receive access through the nonprofit’s sublease and provide the specified property improvements. If those improvements are delayed, the university could require fair-market rent. A sale is anticipated later next year, but the documents reviewed did not state its terms.