JV Pursuing $1B Georgetown Data Center

Oakwell Capital Partners and Cawley Partners are proposing to build a 68-megawatt, 145,000-square-foot data center building in Georgetown. The town’s planning commission will hear the item next week. The zoning change would allow developers to build a building of up to 290,000 square feet to accommodate future growth.

The Austin Business Journal reports that the data center would support cloud services, such as the digital infrastructure behind online banking, streaming and healthcare records. It could represent a capital investment approaching $1 billion.

Power use is one of the largest concerns voiced by nearby residents when it comes to siting a data center. To mitigate the issue, the developers point to Oncor Electric’s construction of a large substation at the site. The companies add that other sticky items, such as water use, will go beyond code requirements to lessen public outcry.

Oakwell’s Phillip Niels added, “We’ve spent a great deal of time listening to their concerns and listening to the questions. I think that ultimately our project sets in place real enforceable guardrails around sound and water and light that proactively addresses the most common questions that we heard.”

Central Texas has attracted data center developers due to its wealth of available land, ample power infrastructure and generally friendly business climate.