A company operating under the alias Sharka, LLC is planning a major data center development in Midlothian, a city 25 miles southwest of Dallas, Texas.

While keeping its true identity a secret, the company has negotiated significant tax breaks for the $500 million project. Update: It's Google.

Proposed Sharka data center location
Proposed Sharka data center location – Midlothian City Council

It’s not even a real shark

Sharka plans to build a data center at the RailPort Business Park, on approximately 375 acres of land owned by Jet Stream, LLC, which appears to be run by the same unidentified company. The development promises around 40 full-time jobs.

According to local council documents (via The Dallas Morning News), the city will offer a 100 percent abatement on property taxes and an 85 percent abatement on improvement taxes over a 10-year period.

It is not clear which organization is actually behind Sharka and Jet Stream, both of which are registered to Delaware-based Corporation Service Company, a legal and financial services provider.

CSC is used by various companies to help maintain secrecy in deals like this, and is particularly favored by Facebook, which has operated under aliases including Raven Northbrook, Greater Kudu and Stadion, to negotiate data center tax breaks.

Facebook, however, already operates a major data center in Texas (with the company’s alias during early stages of development being Winner, LLC). The first phase opened just last year, with a major expansion underway.

DCD will update this story should we learn more. If you know the owner of the proposed property, let us know confidentially using our tip line.