
All signs are pointing in the right direction for the big construction of a multi-billion-dollar hyperscale data center on the northeast side of El Paso.
The company Meta Platforms, Incorporated has said that it wants to build a massive new center off Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue, near U.S. Route 54, on just over 1,000 acres of desert land it purchased late last year.
Based in Menlo Park, California, Meta Platforms is the parent company to Facebook and has earlier said that it expects to spend upwards of $2.8 billion on the building and expansion of the facility over the course of the next 25 years.
Meta Platforms, which also owns and operates Instagram, among other services, completed a nearly $8.5 million purchase of the Stan Roberts land this spring, after the company entered into a water supply agreement with the utility El Paso Water.
In a presentation before the El Paso City Council, Karina Brasgalla, interim director of city’s Economic and International Development Office, said the project was in the process of getting “the approvals that it needs to.”
“We knew that this was going to be a longer process,” Brasgalla added, in referencing the various agency approvals needed for the project, while also noting that road plans for the center are currently 60% completed and being reviewed by the Texas Department of Transportation.
Grading permits for the project were approved by the El Paso Planning Commission two months ago.
If all goes as anticipated, work on the data center itself could begin by July.
November 5, 2024
By Garry Boulard