At least one data center planned for Fort Worth is moving forward this week, even as the city wades into the waters of a potential data center moratorium.
On Aug. 3, developers for the Edged data center planned for southwest Fort Worth near Benbrook filed for a commercial new building permit.
The permit describes a 488,628 square-foot 196 megawatt data center with an address of 9720 Team Rockbrook Parkway. That address does not appear in Google Maps nor in the Tarrant Appraisal District property database.
A website dubs the data center as “Project Outpost.”
“Project Outpost is a next-generation data center designed to meet growing demand for digital infrastructure while operating under strict environmental and community standards,” the website reads.
The website describes the data center as two 450,000 square foot buildings “with administrative and data hall space, along with a dedicated Oncor substation to supply power to the facility.”
Dallas-based Edged Data Centers — a subsidiary of sustainable infrastructure company Endeavor — registered the project with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in May. That entry shows a 488,770 square foot data center at 9999 Chapin School Road, with a start date of July 27 and a price tag of $300 million.
Edged withdrew a request for a tax break from the city of Fort Worth earlier this year. The project has raised questions among residents, who formed the 2871 Community Coalition to call for stronger regulations on data center developments.
Krista Erbe, a Fort Worth resident and founding member of the coalition, said that the group toured an Edged data center in Irving with Fort Worth City Council member Michael Crain recently — but it didn’t assuage all of her concerns.
“I don’t feel like it changed how I have felt about these things overall,” Erbe said. “I appreciate that they’re willing to have a dialogue with residents.”
Crain declined to comment for this story, but confirmed that he toured the data center with residents. Edged did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
On Aug. 11, the Fort Worth City Council initiated the process of implementing a potential moratorium on new data center developments and set new requirements for developers looking to build in Fort Worth.
Those requirements mandate that data center developers looking to build in Fort Worth have to receive approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas before the city approves development permits. They do not apply to projects that are already vested.
A city spokesperson confirmed that data center projects that have already submitted applications are not affected.