{"id":425679,"date":"2026-09-04T02:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425679\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T02:58:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:58:27","slug":"dfw-data-center-leasing-hits-95-as-demand-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425679\/","title":{"rendered":"DFW Data Center Leasing Hits 95% as Demand Surges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"server<\/p>\n

Developers have pre-leased 95% of the more than 765 megawatts of data center capacity under construction in DFW, according to a new CBRE report. [Photo: Adobe Stock]<\/p>\n

Demand for data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth continues to sizzle.<\/p>\n

Developers have already pre-leased 95% of the more than 765 megawatts of capacity under construction here, according to a new report<\/a> from Dallas-based commercial real estate services company CBRE. The report says developers plan another 3.7 gigawatts of greenfield development but haven\u2019t begun construction.<\/p>\n

The report covered the first half of 2026 and points to robust demand from AI providers and hyperscale data centers, which support massive amounts of data processing and storage.<\/p>\n

DFW\u2019s ascent<\/p>\n

The numbers tell the tale: Dallas-Fort Worth is capitalizing on the data center industry.<\/p>\n

DFW held a 13% share of the primary U.S. data center market in the first half of this year, the report said. North Texas trailed Northern Virginia\u2019s 41% share and Atlanta\u2019s 17%.<\/p>\n

As of August, Data Center Map counted<\/a> 143 existing, 29 under-construction and 44 planned data centers in DFW. Nearly 13 gigawatts of capacity fill the North Texas data center pipeline.<\/p>\n

DFW\u2019s data center inventory exceeded 1,400 megawatts in the first half of 2026, CBRE said. That\u2019s up from more than 563 megawatts in the same period last year.\u00a0The first-half vacancy rate sat at 2.8%.<\/p>\n

Total under-construction inventory in DFW soared 81% from the first half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, the report said.<\/p>\n

A report published in August by commercial real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield ranked DFW as the world\u2019s top data center market<\/a>. A recent report from Cushman & Wakefield\u2019s competitor, JLL, crowned Texas the top data market in North America. The Lone Star State shot past longtime frontrunner Virginia to grab the North American title.<\/p>\n

Hefty development costs<\/p>\n

Amid accelerating demand for data centers in DFW, prices for \u201cpowered land\u201d continue to rise, the CBRE report said. Powered land for a data center comes equipped with grid connections, allotted power capacity and signed utility deals before a developer breaks ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand for sites with capacity below 75 MW has increased, driven by large power-load restrictions,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Escalating land prices contribute to the expense of developing a data center. Construction-industry publication Buildermuse said it costs $1,000 to $1,500 per square foot to build a data center in North Texas.<\/p>\n

An April report<\/a> from Sam Houston State University\u2019s Institute for Homeland Security looked at owner-occupied data centers in Texas. The report found they average nearly 233,000 square feet. At the top end of Buildermuse\u2019s range, a typical owner-occupied data center in Texas would cost nearly $350 million to build.<\/p>\n

The Sam Houston State report estimated about 475 data centers operate across the state. However, estimates vary widely from source to source.<\/p>\n

Power surge<\/p>\n

Demand for power changes the data center math in DFW.<\/p>\n

Securing a data center\u2019s spot in a utility queue is costly. As a result, investors are funding deposits for data center interconnections, the CBRE report said.<\/p>\n

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, operates the bulk of the state\u2019s electric grid. In a preliminary long-term forecast filed in April, ERCOT projected<\/a> demand for electricity in its territory, which includes DFW, could climb to 367,790 megawatts by 2032. Among the key drivers: power-hungry data centers. ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas have since said that number is likely inflated, with ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas telling a state Senate committee in late July<\/a> that a more realistic 2032 figure is closer to 175,000 megawatts.<\/p>\n

Either projection is a significant increase from current levels. ERCOT hit an all-time peak demand<\/a> of 91,089 megawatts on July 22. ERCOT estimates 1 megawatt of electricity can power about 250 homes during peak periods.<\/p>\n

Impact of data centers<\/p>\n

An unnamed vice chair of an investment bank, quoted in the 2026 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report<\/a> from PwC and the Urban Land Institute, put growth of the local and global data center market in perspective: \u201cThat great sucking sound? It\u2019s data centers attracting so much capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tR E A D\u00a0\u00a0 N E X T\t<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two new reports \u2014 one from Cushman & Wakefield, another from JLL \u2014 put North Texas and the Lone Star State at the center of the global data center boom.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Spears Institute\u2019s new global ambassador told founders that infrastructure is what lets creativity scale. The event continues through Thursday with more than 40 sessions and a closing keynote from Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The grant will help launch Heart of a Mustang, a campuswide effort aimed at weaving character development into the undergraduate experience.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The company signed an engineering agreement with South Korea\u2019s Samsung Heavy Industries. Each unit is designed to deliver 50 megawatts of capacity. They will be built in a shipyard and moored beside an existing power plant.<\/p>\n

\t\"office<\/a><\/p>\n

The workforce development, training and staffing company offers a free six-month program that pairs compensation with real-world training. The program says it accepts fewer than 1% of applicants.<\/p>\n

\t\"Pokeworks<\/a><\/p>\n

The fast-casual poke chain considers North Texas \u2018incredibly welcoming\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\"AT&T<\/a><\/p>\n

The two organizations will unify business functions under the AT&T PAC umbrella while each keeps its own artistic identity and leadership, with combined operations expected in early 2027.<\/p>\n

\t\"Nikki<\/a><\/p>\n

Nikki Kresse most recently served as chief experience and people officer at senior living operator Lifespace Communities. Her hiring is at least the eighth executive appointment or promotion Dallas-based Stream Data Centers has announced since Apollo took majority control in August 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fort Worth-based carrier\u2019s latest investments include a private check-in experience in Terminal D, its largest-ever Admirals Club lounge in Terminal C and a grab-and-go lounge concept in the future Terminal F.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The fuel was made from waste carbon dioxide and renewable electricity at Infinium\u2019s Corpus Christi plant, then delivered into the common tanks at Corpus Christi International Airport before the flight to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developers have pre-leased 95% of the more than 765 megawatts of data center capacity under construction in DFW,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[148028,21653,45664,102,104,103,148029,3413,21689,97726,18971,113330],"class_list":["post-425679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-buildermuse","tag-cbre","tag-cushman-wakefield","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-data-center-map","tag-ercot","tag-jll","tag-pwc","tag-sam-houston-state-university","tag-urban-land-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}