Sherman, a small town in Texas, is set to get a data center campus that could reach one million square feet, following a deal between the Sherman Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) and Thea Development.

The deal saw SEDCO sell a part of its stake in Progress Park I - a 3,000 acre industrial park on the south side of Sherman, 60 miles north of Dallas.

This land will eventually become Cassini Gateway - a site where, according to Herald Democrat, Thea is planning to build one data center every 12 months, for the next five years.

So much power

Progress Park prospectus
Progress Park prospectus – SEDCO

Thea was established to identify and develop data center sites with easy access to large amounts of energy. One of the main benefits of the location in Sherman is its adjacency to the 758 megawatt Panda Sherman gas fired cogeneration power plant, commissioned in 2014.

“Access to high voltage electric lines, natural gas transmission lines, industrial scale water line, existing concrete road network, and municipal water and sewage in a business friendly environment allow for rapid development of a campus at Cassini Gateway,” states the Thea website.

The company is planning to build massive data centers at a cost of $200 million each. The project will also involve construction of a “very large” substation.

As the first step towards making Cassini Gate a reality, Thea will pay around $1.84 million for 48 acres of land.

“The industry is growing rapidly and this area has a lot of great resources and we believe it’s very, very attractive for data centers,” Thea Development CEO Margie Guido told the Herald Democrat.

The company is currently looking at another development target in rural Pennsylvania, in direct proximity to three power transmission lines and with potential for onsite power generation.