The world’s richest man is buying real estate. What’s so surprising about that? Not much. But what if I told you he’s bought three mansions, one that’s behind another and a third that’s a 10-minute walk away, all in Austin, supposedly for his children and their mothers.
It seems Elon Musk has been attempting to build a sort of family compound, according to reporting by the New York Times, citing people familiar with his plans. Musk apparently recently told people close to him that he sees his children, of which there are at least 11 per the Times, and two of their three mothers, all living together in the adjoining properties.
One of the homes is a 14,400-square-foot mansion that resembles a Tuscan villa, according to the Times, and directly behind it is a six-bedroom mansion that Musk helped purchase. The cost of the two properties was about $35 million, per the publication’s reporting. What’s $35 million to a man worth $272 billion on paper? I would, however, care to know what mortgage rate the richest man on earth locked in.
The third mansion isn’t far, and it is apparently where Musk himself stays when he isn’t galavanting with former President Donald Trump, appearing on the campaign trail. Musk pretty much runs six companies, and he’s still found time to be Trump’s fiercest backer and a top Republican donor. His political action committee is doing a $1-million-a-day giveaway to people who sign a petition supporting the first and second amendments (although the Philadelphia district attorney’s office is suing him). Not to mention, he’s given at least $132 million to elect Trump.
Either way, the plan for the makeshift compound filled with his children and their mothers “isn’t just a personal matter for him; it is rooted in the existential anxieties that underpin his business empire,” according to the Times. His fixation on birth rates and repopulating the planet, maybe, the publication highlighted. And it so happens that his personal and professional lives are intertwined anyways.
Is Elon Musk a present dad?
One of his children’s mothers, Shivon Zilis, who is an executive at his company Neuralink, has actually moved into one of the homes with her three children, per the Times. That isn’t the case for Grimes, a musician and mother of three of his children, who happens to be in a custody battle with Musk. Then there’s Justine Musk, his first wife and mother of five of his children. It seems they aren’t living at the compound either.
Why Austin? Well for one, his companies are there, or near there. He even happens to be the biggest employer in Austin, a city sometimes called Silicon Hills because of its expanding technology industry—a wannabe Silicon Valley, some Californians might say. The average home value in Austin is about $526,000, but those aren’t the kind of places he’s probably looking at. Although he did supposedly offer some homeowners 20% to 70% above their home values, they claim. And some were even required to sign nondisclosure agreements just to see the offer, according to people familiar with the agreements, the Times reported.
Musk wanted to build the compound on hundreds of acres of land outside Austin near Tesla’s headquarters owned by him and his companies, the Times reported, citing people familiar. It seemed to have fallen apart following an apparent federal investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported federal prosecutors were investigating Tesla’s use of company funds on a secret project that had been described internally as a house for its chief executive.
Even so, it isn’t obvious who among his family will live in the homes he has purchased. It’s only Zilis who seems to be living there so far; she is sometimes seen round the city, people familiar told the Times. When Musk is in town, neighbors said they can tell because of extra security. They also mentioned seeing a groomer pick up a small dog. Interestingly enough, the neighborhood is densely populated and not gated, per the Times.
“I just keep thinking with that much money, he’s probably got lots of whims and he’ll do something else soon,” Jim Lewis, a retired rancher who lives near the house where Musk stays, told the Times.