Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, is developing a data center campus in Garland. The campus, originally acquired in [2016 ($16.542) and supplemented in 2017($5.36)], will be the home of two world-class data centers. It has been fully leased on a long-term basis to a large financial services company, who is expected to staff and operate the data center after making significant equipment investments.
The two data centers commenced construction in the fourth quarter of 2022. The first phase is budgeted to cost approximately $400 million. It is expected to deliver 16 megawatts (MW) of data center capacity and is expected to be completed later this year. IT load measured in MWs is an industry-standard metric to measure capacity for large data centers. Under the terms of the March 2024 joint venture with the Mitsubishi Corporation that includes the data centers, Digital Realty continued to manage the development of the project.
This development is part of a larger campus of data centers that Digital Realty envisions building in Garland. The [64]-acre site can accommodate [over 150] MWs of IT capacity. This would result in upward of an additional [$1.2 or $1.5] billion in new investment on this campus. Demand for data center capacity has increased in recent years, driven by broad digital trends including cloud computing and artificial intelligence. As part of a recently expanded tax increment finance (TIF) zone, these future developments will contribute significantly to future redevelopment within the city.
“The city of Garland has become a hot spot for data center development as well as multiple redevelopment and infill projects,” said Ayako Schuster, Garland’s Director of Economic Development. “Data center projects represent a highly dense form of development in terms of investment. These projects, alongside redevelopment, continue to be targets for Garland, as they both provide new opportunities for growth for the city.”
Digital Realty joins several other data center companies in the area, including NTT Data and Stream Realty. Stream Realty recently completed an expansion on their facility in Garland, bringing it to its full size of approximately 280,000 square feet. NTT Data is also adding two new buildings to their data center campus, each with approximately 139,500 square feet of new data center space. Once fully built out, Garland could see more than 2 million square feet of data center space added along President George Bush Turnpike.
Garland’s northern corridor along President George Bush Turnpike has seen significant amounts of development in recent years, with multiple retail developments such as Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar and White Rhino Coffee alongside several multifamily developments bringing new residents as well. Other areas in Garland have also seen increased development, such as the I-30 corridor, with multiple new residential projects including single family, townhome and multifamily developments coming to the area. The new population growth in these areas and the revitalization of Garland’s Downtown will continue to play a role in the future development of Garland, opening new retail and other opportunities.
Information and photo provided by city of Garland.