Mesa May Get 95-Foot-High Data Centers

The project covers the northern half of a roughly 90-acre site data center company EdgeCore owns in Mesa.

The company already received approval for two new data centers on the southern half of the property with a maximum building height of 85 feet.

Earlier this month, EdgeCore announced it secured a $1.9 billion loan to commence building out the southern half, which has one existing data center on it.

In documents filed with the city, the company describes the 95- and 85-foot-tall data halls as three-story buildings, though the heights are commensurate with an eight-story office building.

With the latest application, EdgeCore seems to be bringing a national trend of taller data centers to Mesa.

Historically, data halls tended to be squat, one-story buildings.

The Meta data center buildings adjacent to EdgeCore top out at 54 feet. Google’s buildings under construction to the west on Elliot Road will be 41 feet.

But multi-story data centers are becoming more in vogue as investors and operators clamor to build capacity.

In the national data center hub of Northern Virginia, the local county board of supervisors last week approved a 110-foot-tall data center after a three-hour hearing where residents spoke out against the project.

It will be the tallest data center in the county.

Julie Brewer, EdgeCore’s senior vice president of finance, said in an email that artificial intelligence technology is supercharging what was already a humming industry, and the boom is affecting data center architecture.

“We’re only at the beginning of a period of rapid development in the field of AI, which will undoubtedly have monumental impacts on the data center industry,” Brewer said.

“AI demands in the industry are unlike anything we’ve seen before – as ‘hyperscalers,’ the world’s largest cloud and internet companies already require large amounts of density and capacity.”

“AI is pushing data centers to be larger and denser – like the Mesa campus’ ability to support over 450 MW of critical load – changing the way modern campuses are designed and built,” she said.

The trend toward taller may not be great news for residents near these projects, many of whom are already miffed at the increasing dominance of the industry in Mesa’s tech corridor.

In 2022, several Eastmark residents spoke out as industrial developments near the EdgeCore campus worked their way through the entitlement process.

Many said they paid lot premiums to be on the northern edge of Eastmark and feared views of the Superstition Mountains would be obliterated by industrial buildings.

There were no public comments submitted to the planning board prior to last week’s hearing on EdgeCore’s application, which passed unanimously on the consent agenda.

Notification letters about the project were mailed to property owners within a 1,000 foot radius, but documents indicate the radius fell just short of any Eastmark home.

However, notifications were sent to three homeowners’ associations, including the Eastmark Community Alliance.

EdgeCore’s pioneering data towers still need city council to sign off on the plans.

Brewer said the company is mindful of the community.

“We focus our energy on ensuring we are great neighbors, engaging local communities in a myriad of ways,” she said.

She said the Mesa campus would have enhanced aesthetics, and the company will be careful of noise pollution during construction.

Brewer also pointed to the company’s investments in natural resources, including a watershed health project managed by the Salt River Project.

The company qualified for a “Green Loan” due to the Mesa data centers’ energy efficiency and sustainable water management features.

A ‘well capitalized’ industry

The amount of treasure that EdgeCore will be depositing into its Mesa land is difficult to fathom.

The $2 billion investment could build 126 fire stations, 63 new city halls or a water pipeline to Tucson.

And this funding is just for the southern half of the EdgeCore property. The northern phases approved by the Mesa planning and zoning board last week will require additional investment.

Brewer said the size of the loan secured for its Mesa campus is a testament to demand for cloud services and financiers’ growing interest in data centers.

“Overall, data centers have become increasingly popular among commercial real estate investors,” she said. “Over time, lenders have become more familiar with the data center space, which explains the increased access to capital from traditional real estate sources.”

Some of this investment will end up in city coffers.

A tax impact study is not available for EdgeCore’s project, but in 2019, city staff projected the $1 billion Google data campus now under construction would generate $83 million in tax payments over 25 years.

The payments include excise taxes, sales taxes for construction and electricity, and property taxes.

EdgeCore’s $2 billion opening phase could top those figures.

But District 6 Councilman Scott Somers continues to worry about how the current boom market for data centers will affect the landscape of southeast Mesa.

He said he doesn’t want all the employment land in his district “gobbled up by what’s convenient now.”

“I just want developers to hold on and embrace the visions that we put together all those years ago,” he said, referring to the Gateway Strategic Plan the city ratified in 2008 during his first two terms on council.

The plan set a goal of creating 100,000 jobs in southeast Mesa.

“Data centers are obviously tremendously well capitalized, and they are swooping in and taking all the land and resources at a time when we would like to see some Class A office space down here – but that market is down right now because of COVID,” Somers said.

Artful data centers

Somers said there isn’t a lot the city can do to slow data center development on land that is already zoned for the use, so he’s pushing data hall developers to create higher quality, creative designs.

“If an industry is receiving $1.9 billion … (it) could spend a little bit of that on making it a little nicer for the community,” he said.

The message seems to be getting through, as some recent data center site plans include significant attempts at beautification.

Utah-based data center producer Novva’s proposed campus on the opposite side of Meta includes a public pedestrian path around the property perimeter, a rainwater harvesting system, a rammed earth office building and – for employees – a duck pin bowling alley.

EdgeCore’s campus of 95-foot buildings will feature “substantial murals” on the sides facing Elliot and will also include public art – two large sculptures in prominent locations.

Mesa city planners appear to be on board with Somers’ push for better designs.

In a pre-submittal meeting with Novva last month, staff requested significant changes to the site plan, including a shuffling of buildings to conceal an electrical substation.

Staff also wanted to see the office building component moved to a more prominent location on the corner of Warner and Ellsworth roads.

It suggested adding art to the perimeter wall, and asked them to consider incorporating commercial uses on the site.

“We’ve received a lot of comments from the adjacent neighborhood,” city planners told company officials.