Plans have been filed for a six-building campus in Mesa, Arizona, likely by Novva Data Centers.
First reported by Azbex and the Mesa Tribune, an unnamed company has filed a pre-submittal application with the City of Mesa for a data center campus known as ‘Project Borealis.’
Project Borealis is a six-building campus that would include an office complex and warehouse on approximately 160.49 acres at the northwest corner Ellsworth and Warner roads.
The site would include six 257,000 sq ft (23,875 sqm) data centers and two on-site substations.
Azbex noted the site will use a closed-loop water system consisting of a mix of 60 percent water and 40 percent glycol. Each data center building will require 200,000 gallons to fill the systems in a one-time event. They would also use free-cooling when ambient temperatures are below 72°F (22°C).
Azbex notes the pre-submittal narrative from project representative Quarles & Brady LLP does not identify the owner, but the property was acquired in an Aug. 29 Arizona State Land Department auction.
US firm Novva acquired 160 acres of land in Mesa along Ellsworth and Warner roads in late August. Without providing details, at the time the company said it aimed to have plans before the city planning & zoning board by Q1 2024 and could break ground in 2025.
Novva declined to comment to DCD about the development.
Mesa Planning Department staffers are scheduled to meet with Project Borealis representatives on December 19 to discuss the plan ahead of a formal application.
Novva was launched in 2020 by former C7 CEO Wes Swenson with $95 million from CIM, initially with plans to develop a $1 billion hyperscale campus in West Jordan, Utah. The company opened the 300,000 square foot (28,000 sqm) first phase of that campus late last year, and targets growing the facility to 1.5 million sq ft (140,000 sq m) over four phases.
The company has since acquired a 6MW facility in Colorado Springs and announced plans to expand it to 30MW for $200 million. 2022 also saw Novva announce plans for a 275,000 square foot (25,550 sqm), 100MW data center in Las Vegas.
Earlier this year, the company announced plans for a 60MW data center in Reno, Nevada that is set to open in 2024. The company is also planning a facility in San Francisco, California.
Phoenix is a major data center hub, with the Mesa area home to Polish software firm Comarch as well as EdgeCore, Meta, Google, Novva, Apple, CyrusOne, and NTT. Amazon is planning two campuses in Mesa, while landowner Pacific Proving is also planning to develop a large campus in the area.
Across the rest of Phoenix, the likes of Stack, Stream, Prime, Aligned, Iron Mountain, Vantage, Compass, QTS, EdgeConneX, Expedient, and H5 are all present. Microsoft operates a cloud region out of the area.
