$800M hyperscale data center project proposed for vacant 1,039 acres in Northeast El Paso
El Paso city officials want to sell 1,039 acres of vacant land in Northeast El Paso for a large data center.
The project has an estimated cost of $800 million, including paying the city $8.5 million for the land, according to city information provided to the El Paso City Council for its Tuesday meeting, when it will vote on the proposal.
The city set the land aside years ago as a possible site for a large manufacturing plant. Instead, a hyperscale data processing center is to go there, city information shows.
The vast expanse of desert land is located along a little-used portion of Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue, and just off of U.S. Highway 54 – not far from the New Mexico state line.
El Paso Electric's Newman power plant is located about five miles from the property's western boundary near U.S. Highway 54. El Paso billionaire Paul Foster’s new Campo del Sol housing development is a few miles south of the property.
City Council will be asked Tuesday to approve an ordinance to authorize sale of the property. A public hearing must be held at its Dec. 4 meeting before it can give final approval to the ordinance. That day, City Council also is expected to vote on an economic development agreement with Wurldwide LLC to provide incentives for the project.
Wurldwide, spelled with a "u," is the buyer. However, that's likely a company established for the purpose of buying the land. It registered in January 2022 as a corporation in Delaware, a state where many corporations register for various reasons but are located elsewhere. The company that will operate the El Paso center will likely be a different, better-known enterprise.
City officials were not available Friday to answer questions from the El Paso Times about the proposed land sale.
Data centers house computers and servers to process data for customers. Hyperscale data centers are large and can quickly scale up or down to meet demand, according to Vertiv, a global digital infrastructure provider. They often are multi-building complexes, but don't employ large workforces, according to Area Development magazine.
The number of hyperscale data centers has quickly grown in recent years, with 700 worldwide at the end of 2021, according to Statista, an online statistics provider.
The proposed city ordinance states that the hyperscale data center “will contribute to the creation and growth of a regional information and data value chain, creating opportunities in highly related sectors and technologies,” including advanced manufacturing and clean energy, according to a city document.
City Council on Tuesday also will take a final vote on creating a reinvestment zone for the large tract of land to make it eligible for tax abatement agreements.
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The land also is to be rezoned from heavy manufacturing to commercial to allow the data center to locate there. A public hearing on the rezoning is to be held at City Council's Dec. 5 meeting. City Council in 2021 approved rezoning the property from agriculture to heavy manufacturing as city officials renewed efforts to recruit a company to locate there. It gave preliminary approval to the new rezoning change at its Nov. 7 meeting.
Wurldwide paid a deposit of $336,600 to the city in April 2022 for a temporary right of entry to the land, the proposed sale contract shows. That money will be used as a deposit for the sale contract and allow the company to have a property inspection period ending April 18, 2024. The company could terminate the sale contract for any reason during the inspection time.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: $800M hyperscale data center project proposed for Northeast El Paso
