Abilene residents plan new housing as $25B data center project grows

In short: Big data center projects near Abilene are bringing thousands of workers, and local residents are moving to build housing and services to keep up.

What's going on

A large data center campus called Frontier is planned in Shackelford County near Abilene. Vantage Data Centers says it will invest $25 billion in the multi-phase project.

The planned site is about 1,200 acres and 3.7 million square feet. It is also expected to reach about 1.4 gigawatts of power capacity, which is a very large amount of electricity, like adding the demand of a major industrial area.

Reporting says the Frontier development could create about 5,000 jobs across construction and operations. It also includes plans tied to local hiring and scholarships.

As this work ramps up, nearby communities are seeing a familiar ripple effect. One recent report describes an Abilene couple planning housing and related amenities for the wave of workers linked to the data center buildout. The reporting does not name the couple, but the broader pattern is clear, when a huge project arrives, people often try to meet the sudden need for places to live, eat, shop, and commute.

The Frontier site is not the only big project in the area. Abilene has also been linked to the Stargate and Crusoe campus, described as a massive, multi-building data center complex.

What to watch

If construction jobs grow faster than new homes and roads, rents and home prices can rise quickly. Watch for more housing proposals, utility upgrades, and local government decisions about permits, water, and power as the region adjusts to the data center boom.

Source: NYTimes