Wichita Falls council OKs zoning for possible data center project

Wichita Falls city councilors on Tuesday voted to rezone land in north Wichita Falls from residential to light industrial to accommodate construction of a data center warehouse and battery storage units.

The land in question is about 227 vacant acres near the intersections of Kiel Lane, City View Drive and Northwest Freeway.

The developer of the planned project, Mark Calvano of San Francisco, told councilors he envisioned a facility that would be a “hyperscale data center” to be used by a single tenant.

“And it’s usually one of the Big 5 — Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Google and Amazon,” he said.

He said it would consist of a single-story structure that could be up to 45 feet tall along with battery storage units that cost about $1 million each. He said the property could hold about $2.3 billion in development.