Tax abatement hearing set for 288 acres in Red Oak

ELLIS COUNTY – The Ellis County Commissioner’s Court is considering the approval of a Tax Abatement Agreement with Databank Datacenters DFW III LLC, the owner and applicant for a property located in Reinvestment Zone No. 12, in Red Oak.

The agreement will be further discussed for approval at the Ellis County Commissioner’s Court regular meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 30.

As described in the public notice, “The proposed location will be on a ±288.8-acre tract or parcel of land,” and will be located at Stainback Road and Batchler Road bordered by Nokomis Road. 

The school district sits in 40% Red Oak and 60% Ferris ISDs.

“The proposed improvements are datacenter related with a projected capital investment of approximately ±$2.663 million,” the public notice stated.

While that does eat up a good bit of acreage in a rural area, Ellis County Judge Todd Little said, “The reality is these datacenters are going to improve the drainage, and the flood control we require them to do is much greater than what is already there, so there is going to be some solutions for those owners.

“Yes, they are not going to live next to a field anymore, we know that, but it is better than a big power plant that was proposed 20 years ago.

“Databank Datacenters will be a single user company.

“The company is building the data center for themselves to lease server space to companies like Bank of America, Pottery Barn, etc. 

“The company will lease the personal property, which is the servers, to outside businesses who will pay a rent rate.”

The project is expected to be complete within three to five years. 

Little said there will be multiple buildings, and the company will employee around 50 to 60 employees per data center building on the property.

The pay range for the jobs at the datacenter will be roughly $55,000+ and will consist mainly of technical support positions as well as electricians in specialized trades.

Read next week’s second part interview with Ellis County Judge Todd Little by Rita Cook where he discusses local tax abatements; the good, the bad and the ugly.