Neighbor to neighbor — let me tell you what this newsletter is - and what this isn't.
It’s not another news site recycling big city press releases. And it isn't some cold data feed. It's a weekly newsletter from somebody who lives sixty miles from the biggest building they're putting up in this state. I’ve driven these roads for a while, I know my way around for the most part, born and raised in Victoria. I've been watching Grimes County change as well as the entire Brazos Valley area for years and all I can say is get ready, THE BOOM IS HERE.
Every week, I'll try and tell you what's real. Where to go, see, and what got filed. What got approved. Maybe someplace to eat, what's opening, what's closing. Maybe who's hiring. And maybe what the biggest industrial buildout in Texas history means for your land, your business, and your family.
If we can't verify it, it doesn't go in. That's the deal. IF IT’S WRONG TELL US! You won’t get a woopin for being right, I ain’t that guy.
A Totally Fake AI Image
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN GRIMES COUNTY — AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU.
The biggest building for a long way around here - maybe the biggest building on Earth - is coming to Grimes County.
SpaceX calls it Terafab. The Governor's office announced it. The county is ground zero for what may be the biggest industrial buildout this state has ever seen — and most of y'all are watching it happen from your front porch.
Here's what that means in plain terms: land values are moving, utility capacity is being claimed, and the ripple effect is already reaching Waller, Washington, Madison, and Brazos counties. If you own land, work in construction, haul freight, or run a business within 60 miles of this site, what happens next affects your bottom line.
I've had a Texas zip code for almost 72 years. I've seen booms come and go. This one's different. The scale is different. The speed is different. And the information gap between what's actually happening and what people know is wide enough to drive a Peterbilt through.
That's why we are starting this newsletter.
POWER AND INFRASTRUCTURE
ERCOT's interconnection queue tells the story better than any headline.
There are 35 power generation projects in the ERCOT pipeline for Grimes County alone. Not all of them will get built — queues are queues, waiting in line, not guarantees. But the volume alone tells you what developers and utilities are betting on.
Here's what we verified this week, project by project:
The Grimes County mega-site is real and permitted. Construction is active.
Multiple solar and battery storage projects are in the ERCOT queue, totaling thousands of megawatts. Some are operational. Most are in various stages of development.
Each project has a specific owner, capacity, and status. I'm not going to list all 35 here — but I will tell you that I checked every single one against the individual project pages. Numbers in spreadsheets round things off. The project pages don't.
If you want to see the full list yourself, the link above is free and public. I'll be tracking specific projects in future issues as they move from queue to construction.
Bottom line: the power infrastructure being planned for this county is on a scale that would have sounded like science fiction ten years ago. It's not fiction. It's a spreadsheet. And a reality.
PERMIT RADAR
Grimes County posts agendas, minutes, and meeting video through CivicClerk.
County Clerk records — deeds, liens, filings — are searchable through the public records system.
I'll be watching every week and try reporting what shows up before it makes the newspaper. That's the advantage of living here — I can see the filings before the Houston media decides to drive up.
IF YOU'RE NEW HERE
A lot of folks are about to discover Grimes County for the first time.
Where you are: Grimes County sits about 70 miles north-northwest of Houston, between Bryan-College Station and Conroe. The county seat is in Anderson — small enough that the courthouse square (visible for miles) still has the kind of buildings you'd put on a postcard. The biggest city is Navasota. The roads you will need to know are Highway 6 (north-south), Highway 105 (east-west), and Highway 30 (runs toward Huntsville). FM roads connect everything else, and most of them weren't built for the traffic that's coming. REALLY!
IF YOU'RE MOVING HERE
Listen — if you're relocating to Grimes County because of the Terafab buildout or any of the satellite projects, get educated on the area now or sit in your car later.
What you need to know about housing: Inventory is tight and getting tighter. Land prices are climbing. If you're looking to buy acreage near Iola, Bedias, Roans Prairie, or Singleton, pay attention — SpaceX is acquiring property outside the reinvestment zone boundaries. Robert Raley, a resident near Roans Prairie, told KXXV on August 6 that SpaceX is buying land beyond the zone. He asked why and got "a vague answer."
Here's what that means in plain terms: land values are moving, utility capacity is being claimed, and the ripple effect is already reaching Waller, Washington, Madison, and Brazos counties. If you own land, work in construction, haul freight, or run a business within 60 miles of this site, what happens next affects your bottom line.
Source: KXXV, Aug 6, 2026 — Resident Robert Raley interview — https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/grimes-county/spacex-terafab-representatives-answer-questions-at-grimes-county-commissioners-court
Schools are growing too. Anderson-Shiro CISD is building a new elementary school from bond projects. The City of Iola is moving forward on its first-ever wastewater treatment plant — which tells you even the small towns are building infrastructure for what's coming.
Sources: KXXV — Anderson-Shiro CISD bond projects — https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/grimes-county/building-for-the-future-anderson-shiro-cisd-continues-with-new-elementary-school-and-other-bond-projects · KXXV — Iola wastewater treatment plant — https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/grimes-county/city-of-iola-moves-forward-with-plans-for-its-first-ever-wastewater-treatment-plant
The Grimes Health Resource Center in Navasota is seeing demand push higher as growth accelerates. If you're moving a family in, know where your healthcare is.
Source: KXXV — Grimes Health Resource Center — https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/grimes-county/grimes-health-resource-center-serves-navasota-as-growth-pushes-demand-for-services-higher
Need a mover? Local options are thin right now. Cody's Moving and More in Spring serves the area — codysmovingandmore.com.
THE POWER CORRIDOR
35 energy projects in the ERCOT queue for Grimes County. Four are operational. Nineteen are active. That's more than 4,700 megawatts of power infrastructure in the pipeline — solar farms, battery storage, and gas-fired plants.
What's running right now:
• Grimes County Solar — 211 MW, operational since January 2026
• Central Power Station — gas-fired, active (SpaceX building its own power rather than pulling from the grid)
• Tyler Rose Power Plant 1 & 2 — gas-fired, both active
What's coming:
• Diamante BESS — 513 MW battery storage near CR 179 between Singleton and Roans Prairie
• Hill Valley BESS — 245 MW battery
• Eagle Claw Energy Center — 204 MW battery, completion March 2028
Most of this is concentrated north of Highway 30 in Precinct 1 — Iola, Bedias, Roans Prairie, Singleton, and Gibbons Creek.
Sources: Interconnection.fyi — Grimes County — https://www.interconnection.fyi/projects/state/TX/grimes-county · ERCOT GIS Report — https://www.ercot.com/mp/data-products/data-product-details?id=PG7-200-ER · GCCRD ERCOT Summary, June 2026 — https://www.gccrd.org/gallery/ERCOT%20-%20JUNE%20-%202026.xlsx
FROM THE BACKROADS
I've watched technology and Texas change in ways nobody predicted — bringing strife along with big money. This bull is big, ride it, run with it or get run over. I’ve seen a man get run over by a bull, not for me.
The buildout coming to Grimes County is going to bring both. It's going to transform the economy and it's going to leave some folks behind. The biggest difference between those who benefit and those who get run over is information.That's one reson for this newsletter, we dig.
I'm not selling anything. I'm not chasing clicks. I'm a 71-year-old man who's watched this great state for seven decades, who knows how to find a permit filing and an ERCOT queue, and who thinks his neighbors deserve to know what's coming before it runs them over.
Pay it forward a little. If this letter helps you, send it to somebody it might help.
THE FINE PRINT
Every fact in this newsletter was checked against a public source. Links are included so you can verify them yourself.
About the AI: My nerves are shot to hell, and some days they have a different schedule than me, so “This newsletter is AI-assisted.” We use AI tools to help draft and organize — but - every word, every number, every claim has been physically verified by us against primary sources before it goes out. Double-checked. If AI bothers you, this might not be your newsletter. If you'd rather have a human-only operation that misses half the filings because one man can't read 35 ERCOT project pages every week, that's fair too. But this is how we do it, and we stand behind every word.
AI-generated images will be labeled for amateurs. No fabricated quotes. No rumors stated as fact. If something's unconfirmed, I'll tell you it's unconfirmed.
Next Week’s Issue:
The Latest News * Dining Suggestions* Drive Times * County Happenings
— Rick and Maggie
The Oakman Telegraph
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THANK Y’ALL FOR READING.