By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Compass Datacenters is proposing a new data center development called Compass PHX II and consisting of three buildings of 208KSF each at the SWC of El Mirage Road and Peoria Avenue in El Mirage.
The proposed buildings are 30-foot, single story structures of precast concrete building shells. Each building will have an exterior equipment yard to house power and cooling equipment for the data centers. According to the project description, the equipment yards are larger than the data center buildings’ footprint and will be adjacent to the building’s rear wall.
A loop center road configuration will surround the campus to provide access to all sides of the buildings and yards.
The project will be developed in phases over time, and each building’s 208KSF will include approximately 170KSF of data halls. With 36MW planned for each building, the total project will have a data capacity of 108MW at buildout.
The site is owned by DPML Copperwing Landco II, LLC. Compass Datacenters is the developer. Vanderweil Engineers is the design firm, and HILGARTWILSON is the engineer. Landscape architecture is provided by McGough Adamson.
The plan was submitted in a site plan review request to the El Mirage Planning and Zoning Commission, which was scheduled to hear the measure this week.
Data Center Challenges
Data centers have become a contentious development type in recent years due to water and other concerns. The Chandler City Council passed a measure last year severely restricting data center projects in the city. A data center project in Avondale had its project request withdrawn by City Council last year, but ultimately won approval on resubmittal when it showed it would have a functionally net-zero water use after starting operations. (AZBEX, Aug. 9, 2022)
As was discussed in detail by JLL Capital Markets Group Sr. Director Carl Beardsley at last year’s BEX Leading Market Series: Advanced Manufacturing event, old data center designs were exceptionally water-intensive uses. Modern designs rely on a “closed loop” water distribution system where water is continually recycled throughout the operation. (AZBEX, Aug. 5, 2022)
