Construction begins on massive Woodlands data center

THE WOODLANDS, Texas –– Stream Data Centers has started construction on a commissioned private data center in The Woodlands.

The center is a single story, 72,500 square foot building and is designed to withstand winds up to 146 mph.

"As the Houston economy continues to grow, we see continued growth in data center demand from corporate users," said Rob Kennedy, co-managing partner of Stream Data Centers.

The logic behind choosing The Woodlands, according to Stream, is that the master-planned community is not near any industrial areas, rail lines or flight paths, and has access to power and fiber infrastructures.

A data center will not bring many full-time jobs, said Gil Staley, CEO of the Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership, but it should benefit residents and government entities through the taxes Stream will pay.

“Data centers are very infrastructure-intensive, so they’re not really a job creator,” Staley said. “But it takes a lot of capital to build one.”

This is Stream's fifth data center development in Texas in the last four years.

The center could be divided into three halls, or left for one tenant, and is being built on Technology Forest Boulevard between New Trails and Research Forest Drive.

Stream is no stranger to hosting data for big players in Silicon Valley and the Internet business: it has centers used by Apple, Facebook, AT&T and Sprint among others. It has multiple data centers in Texas, including ones in Austin, the Dallas-Fort Worth area and San Antonio, but this would be its first center in the greater Houston area.

Stream also has data centers in California and Colorado. The building should be finished in December.