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UL System lets SpaceX lease 5 acres on Pecan Island as UL Lafayette adds aerospace programs
The Pecan Island parcel is valued at roughly $72,000 an acre
Source: The Louisiana Weekly
View as table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Leased parcel, per acre | $72,000 |
| Undeveloped land to the west, per acre | $152 |
The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors approved a lease that would let SpaceX use 5 acres of UL Lafayette property, the former Pecan Island High School site, ahead of an anticipated purchase. UL Lafayette has leased it to an affiliated nonprofit for $1 per year, and the nonprofit would sublease it to SpaceX in exchange for improvements.
If those improvements are delayed, SpaceX would pay a fair-market rent. UL System vice president Chris Herring told the board the university stands to receive that rent or "the proceeds from the sale once conducted later next year."
- Parcel value, tax year 2027: more than $340,000
- Allowed uses: offices, housing, warehousing, testing, light industrial
- Sale details: not included in the board documents
On campus, UL Lafayette is adding an aerospace engineering concentration within mechanical engineering and an aerospace and autonomous systems minor, starting next fall. President Ramesh Kolluru also led a delegation to NASA's Johnson Space Center to talk internships and research.
The lease is small, but the plans around it are big
- $100 billion
- for Starbase Louisiana, SpaceX's launch facility
- 5 acres
- of UL Lafayette property in the lease
- $1
- per year the affiliated nonprofit pays for it
- 27,500
- students, UL Lafayette's enrollment goal by 2035
