MIDLOTHIAN – While many residents in Ellis County have been rallying against incoming data centers, the Midlothian City Council in a show of solidarity approved a proposal for a new data center facility at the Sept. 22 city council meeting.
The data center facility will be on an 873.8-acre property in the southern part of Midlothian.
The unanimous approval was decided after 90 minutes of discussion, and motions.
Three motions overall were approved to greenlight the new project.
The property will be located north of FM 875, east of V.V. Jones Road, and south of RailPort Business Park as outlined by Midlothian staff and Kimley-Horn.
The development agreement with Digital Ranch LLC - one of the three motions approved regarding infrastructure and management – had Merrell Capital’s Patrick Noonan alluding to future plans for three data centers to encompass 3.9-million-square-feet.
This will also include four power generating stations, and a closed-loop water system.
Clyde Melick, Midlothian’s Assistant City Manager, also informed that the data center part of the project will only include 873-acres.
Otherwise, the property is not located in Midlothian’s city limits so annexation as parcels would be necessary for development.
Digital Ranch did not ask for a tax abatement from Midlothian for this project.