Data Center Site Preparation for Real Estate Developers and Site Owners

Land that looks ready on a map is rarely ready for a data center. A parcel needs a utility that will commit megawatts, a stormwater outlet, a county that will rezone it, and enough surrounding acreage that a neighbor's complaint about noise or generator testing does not turn into a lawsuit. A developer or site owner who holds 500 acres of Oklahoma pasture is therefore selling a bundle of entitlements and infrastructure, not dirt, and the contractor chosen to prepare it has a large hand in what the bundle is worth.

We work with developers, landowners, economic development authorities and park operators who are turning raw or lightly improved land into data center ready sites. Some intend to sell pads to operators. Others will build powered shells and lease them. A few are tribal and municipal authorities with a long-term interest in the land. In each case our work is to take the parcel from a survey to a site that an operator's engineers will accept.

The details below describe how we approach that preparation in Oklahoma, where large industrial parks, cheap land and an active economic development network give developers real choices.

Several of the state's industrial parks are large enough for campus-scale development. The Cherokee Industrial Park on the north side of Tulsa was described by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce as more than 1,300 acres near U.S. 75, U.S. 169 and the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. The port itself is a 2,000-acre industrial park with more than 50 companies. In the east, the 700-acre Iron Horse Industrial Park in Shawnee had its first business tenant announced in March 2023, a reminder that tribal nations are also developing land in the region.

In the south, the Ardmore Industrial Airpark has drawn $47 million from the state's PREP fund for infrastructure upgrades, along with a further $25 million in upgrades reported. A developer comparing parks should look at the same questions in each: what infrastructure is already installed, who owns the utilities and what is the rezoning path. Our page on the Ardmore area describes the airpark setting.

Operators score sites on power first, then fiber, water, land use and the risk profile of the location. Oklahoma's statewide figures help with the first of those: the state produces 61 percent more energy than it consumes, according to the Department of Commerce. They do not replace a utility study. Owners can improve their position by obtaining a will-serve letter or an interconnection study before they market the site, since an operator will ask for one anyway.

Operators also look for evidence that the local government is organized. The Shawnee Aligned agreement between the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the City of Shawnee, which pools resources for public facilities, fire and police protection and economic development, is the sort of local arrangement that lowers the perceived risk for a large employer. A developer whose parcel sits in a community with such structure can point to it in the pitch to an operator.

Site preparation spending is a gamble on what the buyer will accept, so we recommend spending first on items that every operator will need. Those include a clean boundary and topographic survey, geotechnical borings, a floodplain determination, a stormwater concept with an identified outfall, and utility corridors reserved on the plan. Rough grading is useful but can be a mistake if the buyer's design calls for a different pad elevation.

Our mass grading and site development service allows a developer to grade the roads and common areas first and leave the individual pads for the operator. For drainage, the stormwater and detention design affects how much land is usable, since a detention pond can consume several acres. We help developers weigh shared regional ponds against on-pad detention before the plat is recorded, because a recorded plat is expensive to change.

The eventual occupant changes the build. A hyperscale buyer wants large contiguous land and direct utility service, and our page for hyperscale cloud providers explains what such buyers examine. A colocation operator may want a smaller parcel and a faster shell, while an enterprise owner may want a more developed park with services and neighbors. The decision between selling land and building a powered shell is therefore a decision about which of those buyers you want to attract.

A developer can keep options open by laying out roads and utilities that suit several buyers, and by reserving land for a substation. The colocation and wholesale operators page describes the shell-and-lease model that suits a developer who wants recurring revenue instead of a one-time sale. We can price either path from the same site plan.

Oklahoma does not require a state license for general contractors, according to the Construction Industries Board, though trade work in electrical, mechanical, plumbing and roofing is licensed. A developer should therefore verify that the trade subcontractors on a project hold the right licenses, and should expect the building department, not the state, to check the permit applicant. Statewide minimum codes come from the Uniform Building Code Commission, and the state has adopted newer International Codes, but each city adopts its own editions.

Unincorporated county land often has fewer building requirements, which can be attractive but also leaves the developer without a local building official to resolve questions. Operators and lenders still expect third-party code review and inspections. We build the permit path into the schedule and advise on whether a parcel is better annexed, as happened for a large site at Sand Springs, or left in the county.

Developers carry interest while land waits for a buyer, so infrastructure should be phased to match the sales plan. We usually divide a site into a first block that can be delivered to a buyer within a few months of contract and later blocks that wait. The first block gets the entrance road, utilities stubs, stormwater and security fencing. Later blocks are graded only when a buyer is under contract.

For sites near river or rail corridors, we plan for flood, haul and delivery constraints. The Tulsa Port of Catoosa sits at the head of navigation for the McClellan-Kerr navigation system, so heavy equipment can arrive by barge and rail as well as road at the Port of Catoosa. That affects how a developer markets sites with transformer and chiller deliveries in mind.

Share the parcel boundary, the utility contact and your sales plan. We will propose a phased infrastructure scope, a grading approach and a schedule that matches the way you intend to sell or lease the site.

Should I grade the whole parcel before I find a buyer?

Usually not. Rough grading is useful for roads, drainage and the first pad, but a buyer's design may need a different elevation. We recommend delivering the entrance, utilities and stormwater first, then grading individual pads when a contract is signed.

How big does a site need to be?

There is no fixed size. Hyperscale operators look for hundreds of acres, while edge and enterprise sites may need only a few. The parks we have described run from 700 to 2,000 acres, and we help developers divide a large parcel into sellable blocks.

Is a county location better than a city location?

County land can be faster to approve, but a city may offer utilities, fire protection and a building department. The best choice depends on the utility territory and the operator's requirements. We have worked through both and can compare them for your parcel.

Who decides whether the site is power ready?

The utility, in writing. A will-serve letter or interconnection study with a stated capacity and date is the document operators expect. We can help gather the information the utility needs, but we do not make power commitments.

Do I need a licensed general contractor in Oklahoma?

The state does not currently require a general contracting license, but trade contractors do need licenses for their work. Lenders and operators often impose their own qualification standards, so choose a builder that can show relevant experience and insurance. A related building form is the hyperscale data center.