There’s a Data Center in Downtown Waco!

Name: There’s a Data Center in Downtown Waco!
Uploaded: 2026-05-06T15:45:50.000Z
Duration: 1 min 22 s
Description: A DataBank data center has been operating in downtown Waco, Texas, since 2009, surprising many residents. The facility, which serves as a disaster recovery hub and reportedly runs on 100% renewable energy, was permitted under existing C4 downtown zoning without requiring special approval from the city.

News Clip1:2225 News KXXV·Waco, McLennan County, TX·5/6/2026

A DataBank data center has been operating in downtown Waco, Texas, since 2009, surprising many residents. The facility, which serves as a disaster recovery hub and reportedly runs on 100% renewable energy, was permitted under existing C4 downtown zoning without requiring special approval from the city.

zoningoppositionenvironmentalgovernment

Gov: City of Waco

A local news report by 25 News KXXV revealed the existence of a DataBank data center in downtown Waco, Texas, which has been operational since 2009. Many Waco residents expressed surprise upon learning about the facility, with some indicating they were "very against it" despite the data center's long-standing presence on Austin Avenue. The facility functions as a disaster recovery and backup hub for major Texas cities, including Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

The data center was initially owned by Clear View Information Technology Gateway before DataBank acquired it for data center use in 2020. DataBank reportedly powers the facility entirely with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. 

In response to inquiries from 25 News KXXV, the City of Waco's development services director confirmed that the data center began operations as a permitted use within the C4 downtown zoning district in 2009 and did not require any special zoning approval at that time.