Skybox Datacenters: Skybox Datacenters Plans to Build a 100 Acre Data Center Campus in Lancaster, Texas

Skybox's data center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a co-development with Prologis, is located on the site of a former industrial complex. Bandera Ventures and Skybox Datacenters, both based in Dallas, intend to construct a multi-building data center complex in Lancaster, Texas. The proposed campus, first reported by The Dallas Morning News, is slated for a more than 100-acre site approximately 12 miles south of downtown Dallas and just east of Interstate 35E, which Bandera recently acquired. The endeavor will mark the third time Skybox and Bandera have worked together in a similar capacity. Previously, the two companies co-developed campuses for data centers in Houston and Plano. 

Bandera Ventures is a significant participant in the Dallas-Fort Worth development landscape, with 26 office, retail, and light industrial properties in Texas. However, aside from its previous partnerships with Skybox, the company has little involvement in the data center industry. Skybox has a history of partnering with developers specializing in other asset categories, constructing facilities on land owned by logistics real estate behemoth Prologis on two sites near Austin and in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.  As the logistics sector has slowed since its pandemic-era growth, experts say developers of logistics parks and warehouses are increasingly considering the data center industry as a potential use for their properties. 

The planned Lancaster campus is the most recent addition to a Dallas-Fort Worth data center market that remains one of the nation's most rapidly expanding data center centers. CBRE reports that the market's aggregate inventory has increased by 247% since 2015, second only to Northern Virginia. In the first half of last year, leasing activity broke records, and by the end of 2022, an additional 299.4 megawatts of capacity will be under construction.