$850M data center planned on 151 acres far north of Austin

[Neil Narayan]

Developers are looking to build an $850 million data center campus on 151 acres in Jarrell, a small but growing city far north of Austin.

He added the project would create 400 to 450 construction jobs and up to 50 operations jobs when completed.

As for water usage, he likened it to a swimming pool, saying it has some evaporation through cooling cycles and would need to be refilled, but the technology is now more efficient.

"Historically, they have (used a lot of water), but data centers are changing daily and rapidly," Little said. "It's tech, so just like your cellphone, everything is changing so quickly."

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. recently found that the Austin-San Antonio market is now the No. 2 market for data center growth in the country, with 291 megawatts of absorption in the first half of 2025 and a growth rate of 500% since 2020. The total inventory was 921 megawatts, with another 341 megawatts under construction and vacancy under 3%.