Tract has announced a new gigawatt-scale data center park in Phoenix, Arizona.
The company, a developer of master-planned data center parks, this week announced its acquisition of a 2,069-acre land parcel in the Buckeye area of Maricopa County.
The park could see up to 20 million square feet of data center space developed across as many as 40 individual data centers at full build-out.
Tract said it's currently working with the local utility on plans to support up to 1.8GW of capacity.
“Through our collaboration with Tract, we’ve positioned Buckeye to host one of the largest data center technology parks in the country, driving substantial revenue and ensuring a thriving, sustainable future. By identifying land near the airport, we replaced an outdated planned community with a decades-long plan for economic growth,” said Eric Orsborn, Mayor of Buckeye, Arizona.
“Projects of this size require a well thought out, executable plan, especially when analyzing the infrastructure needs of communities, and we are pleased that this project reduces water demand, preserves natural spaces, and creates hundreds of high-paying jobs.”
Reports Tract was planning a large campus in Buckeye surfaced earlier this month. The acquired site was previously earmarked for a community development that would have featured nearly 10,000 residential homes – though work never started on the project.
Bizjournal reports Tract acquired the site from Arizona Land Consulting for more than $136 million; Arizona Land purchased the property for $40 million in 2022. Tract said Arizona Land Consulting represented the seller, Cipriani Holdings, LLC, on the transaction.
“We have conviction that the Greater Phoenix market will continue to play a critical role in hyperscale data center networks,” said Grant van Rooyen, CEO of Tract. “We especially appreciate the engagement and partnership from Mayor Orsborn, City Council and Staff through this process.”
This is the second project Tract has attempted in Buckeye. Last year Tract filed to develop a massive campus in Buckeye nearby to the newly-announced site. However, the company withdrew the application from Maricopa County’s planning and development queue earlier this year after opposition from local residents and officials.
Known as Project Range, the development was set to span nearly 30 buildings totaling 5.6 million square feet on land north and south of Yuma Road between Jackrabbit Trail and Perryville Road. Buildings would range from 149,000 square feet to 260,000 square feet each. Work on the project was set to start in 2025 and continue over the next 15 to 18 years.
The project received pushback from both Goodyear and Buckeye staff because of its "incompatibility" with the designated land uses for the site along with concerns around building heights and noise. The site was designated for residential uses and is surrounded by neighborhoods.
However, Tract CEO Grant van Rooyen told DCD at the time that the company had other sites in the Phoenix area that it is moving forward with instead.
News of Tract surfaced in 2022 – at the time, it had reportedly identified 40,000 acres of potential investment sites to develop master-planned data center parks on which other companies can develop facilities.
The company officially launched last year with plans for a 2GW, 2,200-acre development in Reno, Nevada. The company has since broken ground on the site and expanded its landholdings there to more than 11,000 acres across three projects.
As well as Reno, the company has announced plans for a 668-acre campus in Eagle Mountain, Utah, and a large site outside Richmond, Virginia.
Tract says it owns or is under contract on more than 23,000 acres across the United States, which are in various stages of rezoning, design, or horizontal construction.
DCD spoke to Tract CEO van Rooyen in the latest issue of DCD>Magazine. Read it for free today.
