Neighbors say they were told Project Cosmos would be an R&D campus, but a federal filing describes the northwest Austin project as a data center.
AUSTIN, Texas — A major redevelopment at the former 3M campus in northwest Austin is raising questions among nearby residents who say they want a clearer picture of what is being built in their backyard.
The project, known as Project Cosmos, is taking shape in the Four Points area. Neighbors said they have heard the site described as a research and development campus, while a recent federal filing from SB Energy refers to Cosmos as a data center project.
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The city of Austin said it has approved a building permit to remodel the property for use as a technology research and development center. Austin Development Services said staff reviewed the application under 2024 International Building Code requirements that apply to data centers. Under those requirements, a data center is defined as a room, building or portion of a building primarily used to house information technology equipment with an IT load greater than 10 kilowatts and 20 watts per square foot of conditioned floor area.
For residents like Eowyn Gorman, the redevelopment itself is not necessarily unwelcome.
“Lots of people are excited that this building is being refreshed,” Gorman said. “It’s been an eyesore for a long time. There’s going to be good jobs coming into our area, and we really just want to know what the intention is for that.”
The questions intensified after residents reviewed a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing from SB Energy. In the filing, the company states, “Our first data center projects, Cosmos and Milam County, are under construction.”
Four Points resident Jennifer Oeltjen said that description caught her attention.
“When I saw the SEC filing, I was like, ‘Maybe I misunderstood this, but it definitely listed data center,’ and so that raised our concerns significantly,” Oeltjen said.
The difference in how residents say the project has been described and the language used in the filing has left some neighbors looking for additional answers.
“Why the gap? Why is one entity telling us it’s only R&D and the other one is saying it’s only a data center? We think we have a right to know what’s being built by us,” Four Points resident Linda Bailey said.
SB Energy says AI chip company Graphcore will base its U.S. engineering headquarters at the site. The first phase of Project Cosmos is expected to have approximately 50 megawatts of critical IT capacity.
The city of Austin said it also recently approved a revision to a previous site plan for the property. Another site plan revision application, which proposes additional infrastructure and a building on the site, has also been submitted. According to the city, that application is still undergoing an initial completeness check and has not yet moved into formal review.
Austin Development Services said site plan revisions do not require public notice, meaning there has not been a formal public input process related to the development.
For neighbors, questions about the project’s ultimate use also come with concerns about its potential impact on the surrounding community, including power, water use and noise.
Ryan Hay sits on the homeowners association board of a nearby neighborhood representing close to 2,000 people. He said residents are not necessarily opposed to development at the site but want to understand what that development will entail.
“I think we just want to understand what is being built here,” Hay said. ‘We’re not necessarily opposed to an office building, like bringing high-paying jobs to the area would be a benefit, but at this point, we don’t know exactly what’s happening, and so that’s the biggest concern.”
In a statement to KVUE, SB Energy said the campus is being renovated for research, development and engineering related to advanced AI computing. The company also said the project will not use more water than the property has in the past and will comply with existing noise regulations. SB Energy said it wants to continue communicating with the community as construction moves forward.
The city said staff will continue reviewing necessary permits and inspecting construction as the project develops. That includes requirements involving electricity, water, traffic and noise, along with other applicable city codes. Once operations begin, the property will also be subject to general city code compliance.
Neighbors said they want the conversation surrounding the project to happen face-to-face. Residents are working to organize a town hall in hopes of bringing SB Energy representatives, city leaders and members of the community together to discuss the project and address their questions.
The debate comes as the city of Austin is taking a broader look at how data centers should be regulated. Last month, the Austin City Council voted to begin developing land-use and development regulations specifically for data centers. The city is working to have the first phase of those changes in place by the end of the year.