By Cecilia Chan | Queen Creek Tribune
A 2.3-million-square-foot data center campus with seven buildings proposed for southeast Mesa cleared its first hurdle last week.
The Mesa Planning and Zoning Board voted 4-0 to recommend Council approve NTT Global Data Center’s request for rezoning, a council use permit and a major site plan modification for the 170-acre vacant site at Pecos and Crismon roads. That parcel is one mile north of the Queen Creek town border and is part of an industrial construction boom.
NTT, a Japanese IT service and consulting company, purchased the land from Pacific Proving LLC last year for $300 million. Each building would have its own internal closed loop, chiller system on the roof, according to Asif Kazimi, representing NTT and the design team.
Because large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, NTT is proposing to use a combination of building design and industry-standard conservation practices.
“The proposed data hall/shell buildings have been thoughtfully designed to limit southern sun exposure to optimize necessary interior cooling systems,” the company said. “Each of the data hall buildings will be completed with a closed-loop water cooling system that is filled up only once. The closed-loop system is entirely self-contained and does not employ any evaporative cooling methods that would result in evaporative or condensation loss.”
