SpaceX is buying and developing a massive ~136,000-acre (roughly 212 square miles) tract of coastal marshland in Vermilion Parish, near Pecan Island and Freshwater City. This land is primarily owned by ExxonMobil (with surface management by the Vermilion Corporation) and lies along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, about 10 miles inland from the Gulf but with direct water access. This location is good for high volume launches into the Gulf of America.

They have not started construction which will take about 2 years. There are photos of the second mechazilla launch tower being built at LC37A in Florida. Those show what this will look like. The LC37A SpaceX construction started Nov 2025 and will be completed early in 2027. LC37A already had cement and roads and other launch sites in the area. The Louisiana property acquisition must be finalized and there is land site preparation needed.

SpaceX investor Larry Goldberg has analyzed the site and believes it will become the primary SpaceX Starship launch facility.

Louisiana state officials (including Sen. Bob Hensgens and Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration) have been actively courting this with major incentives. Louisiana will give tax breaks/rebates for aerospace projects, legal immunity from nuisance lawsuits, critical infrastructure protections, and efforts to streamline permitting.

SpaceX representatives attended a state summit with the governor’s team and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in mid-2026 focused on aerospace permitting.

Hensgens stated in late June 2026 that negotiations had advanced significantly, with high probability of a transformative project and potential rocket launches south of Pecan Island.

Launch Profile and Downrange Safety

Normally, launch sites need safe downrange areas (primarily ocean or unpopulated land) for stage separations, booster returns, potential aborts, and debris in case of failure. The Louisiana property works well for southerly launches over the Gulf of Mexico.

Key advantages for launches

Primary trajectories for Southerly azimuths (roughly 115°–190°+ from north, depending on exact pad location). This puts the rocket over the open Gulf for a long distance before approaching land (potentially the Yucatán Peninsula or further). This mirrors Boca Chica/Starbase operations in Texas.

Excellent downrange safety over water for most of the ascent and early flight phases.

Good access to a range of useful orbits: near-polar/sun-synchronous (valuable for Starlink and other missions) and certain lower-inclination LEO paths (with possible doglegs). Experts note it sits “nicely looking south” with a long unpopulated path over the Gulf and parts of Mexico.

Large contiguous land allows for big exclusion/buffer zones on the ground (e.g., hundreds or thousands of acres around pads).

Easy barge transport via the Intracoastal Waterway directly from Starbase, Texas — no need to go around the open ocean or through the Panama Canal for hardware movement or recovery.