Colorado-Based Company Acquires Land for Data Center in Utah

(KSL.com) -- Eagle Mountain, Utah, will soon be home to yet another data center, as Denver-based Tract – a developer of master-planned data center parks – announced last week it completed an acquisition of more than 668 acres of land west of Utah Lake.

The latest center will join the growing tech hub of Eagle Mountain, along with Facebook's parent company Meta, which is in the process of a two-million-square-foot expansion of its campus, and Google, which also acquired a 300-acre parcel in Eagle Mountain.

"We identified data centers early on as a way to employ residents, pay for the infrastructure of our growing city, and form partnerships to strengthen this close-knit community," Eagle Mountain Mayor Tom Westmoreland said in a statement. "Beyond the fiscal impact, our new technology neighbors have been great additions to our community and we look forward to working with partners like Tract to develop new campuses and expand our emergence as a tech hub while maintaining our small-town charm."

The land purchased by Tract sits within the city's Regional Technology Innovation overlay zone, which allows for by-right use for data centers, advanced manufacturing, research, and development sites, supported by expedited administrative review processes for site plans and permits.

Additionally, a release from the company said that Tract is working with Rocky Mountain Power to deliver more than 400 megawatts via new transmission infrastructure to the area by 2028.

"Data centers continue to migrate to campus deployments and the building blocks for land and power are getting bigger to keep pace with the underlying demand," Graham Williams, chief investment officer of Tract, said in the release. "Building on Utah's data center sales tax exemption and low power rates, Eagle Mountain has distinguished itself through thoughtful planning and having sufficient contiguous land to meet the campus needs of tomorrow. We appreciate the partnership with the city and look forward to accelerating responsible infrastructure for data center development."

Scott Cuthbertson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, said he's appreciative of Tract's commitment to minimizing water use and engaging in innovative approaches to powering their campuses.

While the total water use of individual data centers is generally not well known, Google data centers in 2021 used 3.3 billion gallons of water in the US alone and another almost one billion gallons, globally, according to the Water Footprint Calculator.

"Resource-conscious data center expansion can help ensure economic prosperity for the state of Utah, today and in the future," Cuthbertson said.

This article originally appeared in KSL.com