https://www.wsj.com/business/entrepreneurship/lockhart-texas-tech-hub-fd1bf380

So anyone who has driven the backroads of Lockhart and Kyle and Buda and other such towns knows that cow pastures are turning into housing developments. This story talks about an effort to create a high tech startup center where entrepreneurs can live, work, and test out their prototypes.

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An unusual community is taking shape in a suburb of Austin: a ranch-style house surrounded by trailer parks, a robotics facility and a drone-building site.

The site, known as Proto-Town, is a 1,200-acre campus in Lockhart, Texas, a short drive from Elon Musk's Tesla headquarters. It serves as a business commune for young tech founders and other entrepreneurs who all live and work there.

Founders and employees live together in the house or nearby trailer parks they call man camps. Workers at the dozen firms on site often eat meals as a group. Many work on their startups from morning to night.

Proto-Town founders Josh Farahzad, 26, and Merle Nye, 28, met while attending college at Duke. They worked at a variety of startups for years, and then met John Cyrier, a longtime Texas politician.

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You can't do something like this in Kalifornia. For one thing 1200 acres is going to be way too expensive. For another, taxes and regulations would eat your lunch.

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Aspiring software companies and AI firms are still flocking to San Francisco. But more robotics, energy and defense companies are setting up shop under the blistering Texan sun. Places like Proto-Town are the latest sign that Austin and its surroundings are becoming a base for these so-called "hard tech" companies.

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It's just a matter of time. We've already got SpaceX, Tesla, Y'all Street, & a plethora of other companies have moved here.

The stars are bright deep in the heart of Texas.

Mini nuclear reactor may be in the works too.

https://hoodline.com/2026/03/lockhart-s-proto-town-quietly-plots-a-mini-nuclear-reactor-next-door/

A hardware-first "company town" taking shape south of Lockhart may soon come with a very unusual neighbor: a small nuclear research reactor tucked inside its campus plans.

Developers behind ProtoTown have filed early paperwork with state regulators that sketches out roughly 7,600 square feet of reactor space at a site on Mineral Springs Road, carrying an estimated price tag of about $23 million. The documents are preliminary, but they mark the first public sign that nuclear research is on the table for the project.

oldord said:

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I know, old man yelling at clouds....but cant we have some type of statewide zoning? Am I the only one concerned that all productive land is being swallowed by crap housing, datacenters and solar deserts?

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Jiminy Christmas. Here come the fake conservatives asking for more government again.

Does this mean the lines at City Market are about to get longer?

Frankly, I was surprised that Michael Dell didn't come up with a remake of the company town when he moved to Round Rock. Throw up apartments, condos and townhomes near his campus. License convenience stores, grocery stores, etc. build convenient locations for his work force.

Not exactly I Own My Soul to the Company Store situation but long term better investment. Short term would be a great perk for new hires.

aggiehawg said:

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Frankly, I was surprised that Michael Dell didn't come up with a remake of the company town when he moved to Round Rock. Throw up apartments, condos and townhomes near his campus. License convenience stores, grocery stores, etc. build convenient locations for his work force.

Not exactly I Own My Soul to the Company Store situation but long term better investment. Short term would be a great perk for new hires.

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We certainly got the space for stuff like that. Maybe not in Round Rock anymore though.

I watched a YouTube video on this earlier today. It was sent to me by my brother who lives in the area.

My take on this is that someone is going to make a lot of money at this place, but it won't be the poor schlubs sweating their asses off trying to scale up their ideas that they think will save the world.

Good God look at all the NIMBYs.

Jobs, innovation, Culture, a thriving economy. If you want to go live in Appalachia with the other Neanderthals please do so.

DeschutesAg said:

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Canyon Lake Agbu94 said:

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I hate what this area is becoming. If it isn't little Honduras with a poco loco every half mile, it is a new housing development . Driving from San Marcos to College Station shows a sharp contrast from the two different sectors.

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It will only get worse.

The state of Texas population was ~10M people sixty years ago when I was in a 7th grade Texas Geography class. It is estimated to be ~32M now. When the Texas state population reaches 40M, people will start leaving, just like the exodus from California. But leave for where? It is getting damn difficult to find any remaining good places that aren't too crowded.

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Texas has almost twice the acreage of California. Its also not run by the barely functioning ******s you vote for.

Why would it be under similar constraints?

techno-ag said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Frankly, I was surprised that Michael Dell didn't come up with a remake of the company town when he moved to Round Rock. Throw up apartments, condos and townhomes near his campus. License convenience stores, grocery stores, etc. build convenient locations for his work force.

Not exactly I Own My Soul to the Company Store situation but long term better investment. Short term would be a great perk for new hires.

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We certainly got the space for stuff like that. Maybe not in Round Rock anymore though.

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Made sense back then (for different reasons) but still makes sense today if designed correctly.

Just stopped in to say that I knew John Cyrier during my time in the Aggie Band and he's a good dude.

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They worked at a variety of startups for years, and then met John Cyrier, a longtime Texas politician

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Also, some of y'all really need to spend some time more than 50 miles west of I-35. We got a big state. The carrying capacity for Texas is definitely north of 100M.

Heck, they'll probably cram 10M into Frisco alone. Maybe another 5M in Sugar Land.

For your descendants futures, I'd buy as much land as you can between US183 to the East, I-20 to the North, West to El Paso and US90 to the South.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Just stopped in to say that I knew John Cyrier during my time in the Aggie Band and he's a good dude.

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They worked at a variety of startups for years, and then met John Cyrier, a longtime Texas politician

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Also, some of y'all really need to spend some time more than 50 miles west of I-35. We got a big state. The carrying capacity for Texas is definitely north of 100M.

Heck, they'll probably cram 10M into Frisco alone. Maybe another 5M in Sugar Land.

For your descendants futures, I'd buy as much land as you can between US183 to the East, I-20 to the North, West to El Paso and US90 to the South.

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^^ this guy gets it.

We can't both decry the evil antinatalism of the left and also ***** about this stuff. Our civilization needs to continue to grow and Texas is blessed with plenty of room to do so.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Just stopped in to say that I knew John Cyrier during my time in the Aggie Band and he's a good dude.

Quote:

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They worked at a variety of startups for years, and then met John Cyrier, a longtime Texas politician

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Also, some of y'all really need to spend some time more than 50 miles west of I-35. We got a big state. The carrying capacity for Texas is definitely north of 100M.

Heck, they'll probably cram 10M into Frisco alone. Maybe another 5M in Sugar Land.

For your descendants futures, I'd buy as much land as you can between US183 to the East, I-20 to the North, West to El Paso and US90 to the South.

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Right on, right on. Get the desalination plants going to solve our water shortages, fire up more natural gas and small nuclear reactors for power.

techno-ag said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Just stopped in to say that I knew John Cyrier during my time in the Aggie Band and he's a good dude.

Quote:

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They worked at a variety of startups for years, and then met John Cyrier, a longtime Texas politician

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Also, some of y'all really need to spend some time more than 50 miles west of I-35. We got a big state. The carrying capacity for Texas is definitely north of 100M.

Heck, they'll probably cram 10M into Frisco alone. Maybe another 5M in Sugar Land.

For your descendants futures, I'd buy as much land as you can between US183 to the East, I-20 to the North, West to El Paso and US90 to the South.

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Right on, right on. Get the desalination plants going to solve our water shortages, fire up more natural gas and small nuclear reactors for power.

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This is the thing that I could never understand when I was living in California.
Water shortages all the time across the whole state, especially in years with light snowfall.

Yet they're parked right next to the largest body of water in the world and they can't seem to figure out how to convert any of it into potable water.

I grew up in Al Jubail drinking water from our own desal plant. And that was in the early 1980s.

So the Saudis have had it figured out for 45 years but California still can't figure it out.

Lemme guess... California doesn't have any energy resources to convert salt water into drinking water.

Meanwhile, there is a 500 km long water pipeline from Jubail to Riyadh.

Riyadh was less than 1M when I lived there 40+ years ago.
Today it's population 7M thanks to water piped in from the Gulf.

500 km is about 310 miles. So draw your line from the Gulf of America and go 300 miles inland towards West Texas and start buying land. Brownwood, San Angelo, Ozona, Langtry. All of those are easily within water pipeline distance.

In the case of California, I realize they've got some large mountain ranges but 300 miles from San Diego, you're in Phoenix. 300 miles from Santa Monica and you're in Las Vegas.

Texas has the ability to achieve something like this. California never will - by choice.

We've got more nat gas than you can shake a stick at. I know of at least one major LNG pipeline going from Permian area to the coast later this year and probably more are on the books. Stick data centers out there and build power plants for them out there. Power up the whole state.

The problem is the progressive culture thinking that goes along with this. The hope is they follow Musk's example and he's created a conservative culture.

Silent For Too Long said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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Canyon Lake Agbu94 said:

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I hate what this area is becoming. If it isn't little Honduras with a poco loco every half mile, it is a new housing development . Driving from San Marcos to College Station shows a sharp contrast from the two different sectors.

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It will only get worse.

The state of Texas population was ~10M people sixty years ago when I was in a 7th grade Texas Geography class. It is estimated to be ~32M now. When the Texas state population reaches 40M, people will start leaving, just like the exodus from California. But leave for where? It is getting damn difficult to find any remaining good places that aren't too crowded.

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Texas has almost twice the acreage of California. Its also not run by the barely functioning ******s you vote for.

Why would it be under similar constraints?

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Not everyone wants to live in Van Horn to have some solitude

Sorry to upset you Pinoche......

HollywoodBQ said:

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This is the thing that I could never understand when I was living in California.
Water shortages all the time across the whole state, especially in years with light snowfall.

Yet they're parked right next to the largest body of water in the world and they can't seem to figure out how to convert any of it into potable water.

I grew up in Al Jubail drinking water from our own desal plant. And that was in the early 1980s.

So the Saudis have had it figured out for 45 years but California still can't figure it out.

Lemme guess... California doesn't have any energy resources to convert salt water into drinking water.

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It's not that they lack the tech. It's that California no longer works that's to the government and its peripheral appendages. It has a gazillion NGOs whose sole reason for existence is blocking new constructions. Those NGOs wine and dine politicians and are run by rich people (whose wealth is generated by the corrupt NGOs) who donate to campaigns and play king maker. Then you have far left idiots in the state legislature who want to see humans die off so that Gaia mother earth can return to her past glory. Finally, the legislature has written so many requirements into permitting processes that building anything is basically impossible now.
A few examples:
-they actually tried to build a big desal a few years ago and some environmental review committee with maybe 5 members killed the whole thing after years of development and tens of millions of dollars spent.
-It's been over a year since the palisades fire and lots of properties are still vacant lots because permitting is so insane.
-And of course, there's the infamous $30B high speed rail that's already over budget despite laying like 1 mile of track and running zero routes.


The California government is no longer a working entity. It's a parasite that's grown so large that it's now killing the host.

Silent For Too Long said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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Canyon Lake Agbu94 said:

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I hate what this area is becoming. If it isn't little Honduras with a poco loco every half mile, it is a new housing development . Driving from San Marcos to College Station shows a sharp contrast from the two different sectors.

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It will only get worse.

The state of Texas population was ~10M people sixty years ago when I was in a 7th grade Texas Geography class. It is estimated to be ~32M now. When the Texas state population reaches 40M, people will start leaving, just like the exodus from California. But leave for where? It is getting damn difficult to find any remaining good places that aren't too crowded.

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Texas has almost twice the acreage of California. Its also not run by the barely functioning ******s you vote for.

Why would it be under similar constraints?

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Every state has its own natural limits and constraints. Texas will start bumping up against its own soon. In some parts of the state, it is already happening.

Hank the Grifter said:

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People who start sentences with the word "so".

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Incomplete sentences

Broseph said:

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The problem is the progressive culture thinking that goes along with this. The hope is they follow Musk's example and he's created a conservative culture.

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This!!

With more people coming in and creating larger metroplexes, we will eventually turn into a blue state. That is the ugly truth that comes with "progress"!

If you all haven't read Dan Wang's Breakneck, it should go on the reading list. It compares and contrasts the American and Chinese systems and the opening chapter is absolutely brutal in its description of California's utterly feckless execution. I tried to find exact quotes on the internet, but this short summary of one part will have to do:

The year 2008 offered a direct comparison between California's speed and China's speed. That year, California voters approved a state proposition to fund a high-speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles; also that year, China began construction of its high - speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai. China opened the Beijing Shanghai line in 2011 at a cost of $36-billion. In its first decade of operation, it completed 1.35 billion passenger trips. In the same amount of time, California built a small stretch of rail to connect two cities in the Central Valley, neither of which are close to San Francisco or Los Angeles. The latest estimate for California's rail line is $128-billion. Politicians had demanded that the train add a stop in their district, forcing the line to take a more tortuous route through an extra mountain range.

California became Kalifornia because of shat like this.

All you have to do is watch the Asian/Indian demographic % change. California went from <5 % to >15% in the span of 20 years.

techno-ag said:

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We've got more nat gas than you can shake a stick at. I know of at least one major LNG pipeline going from Permian area to the coast later this year and probably more are on the books. Stick data centers out there and build power plants for them out there. Power up the whole state.

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which pipeline is that?

DeschutesAg said:

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Silent For Too Long said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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Canyon Lake Agbu94 said:

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I hate what this area is becoming. If it isn't little Honduras with a poco loco every half mile, it is a new housing development . Driving from San Marcos to College Station shows a sharp contrast from the two different sectors.

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It will only get worse.

The state of Texas population was ~10M people sixty years ago when I was in a 7th grade Texas Geography class. It is estimated to be ~32M now. When the Texas state population reaches 40M, people will start leaving, just like the exodus from California. But leave for where? It is getting damn difficult to find any remaining good places that aren't too crowded.

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Texas has almost twice the acreage of California. Its also not run by the barely functioning ******s you vote for.

Why would it be under similar constraints?

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Every state has its own natural limits and constraints. Texas will start bumping up against its own soon. In some parts of the state, it is already happening.

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for example?