One of the biggest data center projects in Fort Worth is getting the greenlight and a significant tax break.
The Fort Worth City Council approved an economic development agreement Tuesday with Madrid-based ACS Group, which plans to build a $2.16 billion, five-building data center campus across 107 acres near Hicks Field Road, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
The project will be developed by Turner Construction, ACS’s U.S. subsidiary, and unlocking the full tax incentive will require construction benchmarks and equipment purchases.
The 10-year incentive deal provides a 35 percent tax break on business personal property for the first phase, escalating to up to 70 percent for future phases depending on investment levels.
ACS will need to invest $481.6 million in construction and infrastructure and $1.68 billion in equipment to qualify. The company must also create at least 37 jobs with an average salary of $150,000 and meet construction deadlines.
ACS’s top clients include Google, Microsoft and Apple, although the end user for this project hasn’t been disclosed.
The city estimates the tax breaks will pay for themselves in just over three years, with officials framing the deal as a long-term investment in a high-growth sector.
The project adds to a growing cluster of data center activity across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, where cheap land, infrastructure capacity and regulatory support have made the market one of the hottest in the country. In nearby Mansfield, Aligned Data Centers is building a facility with its own power substation, and Edged Energy is eyeing a site in west Fort Worth for another large-scale project.
However, concerns are mounting about the strain data centers are placing on Texas’ power grid.
ERCOT projected that peak electricity demand could more than double by 2031, driven almost entirely by data centers, which are expected to account for 86 gigawatts of new demand. That’s enough to power more than 21 million homes, and analysts say the state’s current infrastructure isn’t on pace to meet that level of growth.
Turner is already active in the region, with projects like the $840 million Terminal F at DFW International Airport and TCU’s $101 million football stadium expansion in progress.
— Judah Duke
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