The city of Fort Worth is considering offering tax breaks to a company proposing to invest $1.1 billion in a data center near Veale Ranch.
Edged Data Centers, a subsidiary of sustainable infrastructure company Endeavor, is proposing to build the data center near the intersection of Interstate 20 and Chapin School Road.
The city’s economic development department is proposing to offer the company a 50% tax break on property taxes for its equipment for 10 years provided the company meets certain conditions around jobs, investment and salaries.
The company has to invest at least $1.1 billion building and outfitting the data center and create 50 jobs with an average annual salary of $73,000.
The deal is expected to cost the city about $18.2 million in taxes, but net it $49.3 million over the life of the agreement, according to a presentation at the March 3 City Council work session.
Edged promotes itself as an energy efficient alternative to the typical data center developer. It uses a waterless cooling system, which the company says helps makes its data centers about 25% more energy efficient than the industry average.
The company has data centers in Irving, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, Kansas City, Des Moines and Columbus.
The project would be in an area zoned for industrial development, next to a proposed Oncor substation, and already has approval from the state’s power grid operator ERCOT. There is a buffer separating the property from nearby housing developments.
The proposal comes nearly a month after the council delayed a rezoning request for another data center project in southeast Fort Worth from local energy consortium Black Mountain.
That project, near the city’s borders with Everman and Forest Hill, has drawn opposition from neighbors concerned about the impact of data centers on city resources like water.
City Council member Jeanette Martinez, who called for the pause at the Feb. 10 meeting, expressed concern about the council’s lack of knowledge about the community impact of data centers.
She requested a briefing ahead of a planned March 10 vote on Black Mountain’s rezoning requests.
That briefing was expected on March 3, however, in an email to the Star-Telegram, Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern said the city couldn’t coordinate with representatives from Oncor and ERCOT to get a briefing ahead of the March 10 vote.
The city council is expected to vote on the proposed tax break package at its 11 a.m. meeting on Tuesday, March 31.
.jpg)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Harrison Mantas has covered Fort Worth city government, agencies and people since September 2021. He likes to live tweet city hall meetings, and help his fellow Fort Worthians figure out what’s going on.