PECAN ISLAND, La. — SpaceX has secured a path to begin using and improving a University of Louisiana at Lafayette-owned property on Pecan Island before an anticipated purchase, giving the company another physical foothold near its planned Starbase Louisiana development in Vermilion Parish.
The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors approved the arrangement Thursday. It covers about five acres at the former Pecan Island High School, which closed after Hurricane Rita damaged the campus in 2005. UL Lafayette obtained the property through a donation last year.
Under the structure approved by the board, UL Lafayette will lease the site to its affiliated nonprofit, Ragin’ Cajun Facilities Inc., for $1 per year. The nonprofit will then sublease the property to SpaceX. Rather than paying conventional cash rent while improvements are underway, SpaceX is expected to provide improvements to the site and its buildings.
University officials said the interim lease solves a timing problem: SpaceX wants access to the property now, while the separate legal and administrative process required for a sale is expected to continue into next year. If the improvements are delayed, the agreement calls for SpaceX to pay fair-market rent until work begins.
The permitted uses are broad. The lease allows offices, engineering and research activity, personnel lodging, training, warehousing, equipment staging, fabrication and light industrial work, communications equipment, vehicle maintenance, emergency power generation and other support functions.
Those uses make the former school potentially much more than a temporary office. They could allow the property to serve as a support hub for the enormous spaceport SpaceX plans along the Vermilion Parish coast.
The agreement does not itself transfer ownership. University officials said the institution expects either to receive fair-market rent if improvements are delayed or proceeds from a future sale. A purchase price and final sale terms have not been publicly established.
The arrangement has also drawn questions because UL Lafayette is working through a budget deficit. Critics have questioned why property would initially be leased for a nominal amount while the university is cutting costs. University officials argue that the improvements and expected future sale provide the economic consideration behind the deal.
Another unanswered question involves exactly what SpaceX will build or renovate. The detailed improvement schedule was not included in the public board materials reviewed by news organizations, and requests have been made for those records.
The property’s history adds another layer. It had been associated with wildlife and coastal-preservation purposes, while the new lease allows a wide range of industrial and operational uses. How those interests will coexist could become part of the broader debate surrounding Starbase Louisiana.
The lease is a meaningful step because it moves the SpaceX project from broad economic-development announcements toward site-level activity involving specific buildings and land. It follows other signs of advancement, including permitting activity, early hiring and federal discussions over future spaceport and launch-corridor policy.
SpaceX and Louisiana officials have described Starbase Louisiana as a potential $100 billion investment capable of supporting thousands of jobs. Those figures remain projections tied to a project that still faces permitting, environmental review, construction and commercial execution.
For Acadiana, the immediate development is simpler: SpaceX now has an approved mechanism to get onto a UL Lafayette property in Pecan Island and begin preparing it while the parties work toward a possible sale.
Disclosure: Gov. Jeff Landry is a current advertiser with Cajun Conservatism. The advertising relationship did not determine the decision to cover this development and provided no editorial control over this article.
Sources
Acadiana News First — UL System lease approval, Oct. 22, 2026
Louisiana Illuminator — SpaceX lease and anticipated purchase, Oct. 23, 2026
Louisiana Economic Development — Starbase Louisiana announcement
