Large data center may be heading to former computer chip facility in Colorado Springs

Raeden, a California real estate and tech firm, is planning to construct a 450,000-square-foot data center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The project, which has been in development with the city for over a year, will be located in a former Intel microchip manufacturing plant along Garden of the Gods Road. According to Raeden founder Jason Green, the facility will become Colorado's highest-powered data center, drawing approximately 50 megawatts, which is half the building's previous rating as a chip plant and 10 megawatts more than the Novva facility east of the Air Force Academy. The proposed data center will implement an "air-cooled closed-loop system" to ensure minimal water usage, with Green stating that the system will have zero exposure to the environment and require no water for cooling. While some water will be needed for personnel, this amount is significantly less than that required by water-cooled data centers. The project is expected to create 40-100 permanent, high-paying jobs upon completion. A neighborhood meeting is scheduled for April 7 at the Hyatt Place hotel on Garden of the Gods Road to discuss the project. The article places this development within a broader regional context of increasing concern over data center resource consumption. Notably, the Denver City Council and mayor’s office are united in pursuing a moratorium on new data center construction, and city staff are reviewing specific regulations concerning land, energy, water use, zoning, and affordability for ratepayers. Additionally, residents in a Denver neighborhood are actively protesting a separate new data center.