New Auburndale Data Center Site Targets 40 MW at Recker Highway

Hillwood Development Company filed an application for a building permit for a planned data center in two existing buildings on 75 acres in Auburndale

A widespread initiative is converting an existing warehouse into a data center directly in Auburndale.

Instead, data center and high-intensity industrial interest in and around Auburndale and Polk County centers around a few key energy-dense locations:

• 324 Recker Highway (Auburndale): This 13-acre industrial development site is marketed specifically as a 40 MW Powered Data Center / Industrial Site. Rather than converting an old warehouse building, it is positioned as a ready-to-build footprint located directly fence-to-fence with the 540 MW Osprey Energy Center and its dual-feed switching station, making it a prime grid-dense node for an AI or mid-size data center.
• Broader Polk County Activity: If you are tracking massive regional data center proposals, the biggest headlines in Polk County involve a completely greenfield project further south—the approved $2.6 billion, 4.4 million-square-foot hyperscale data center campus spanning over 1,000 acres in Fort Meade.

Industrial site listings in Auburndale reflect active marketing of a 13-acre site at 324 Recker Highway specifically as a 40 MW Powered Data Center / Industrial Site.

Key Site Specifications & Details

• Location: 324 Recker Highway, Auburndale, FL
• Power Node: The property sits directly adjacent (fence-to-fence) to the 540 MW Osprey Energy Center and its 230 kV substation, eliminating long-distance power interconnect hurdles.
• Capacity Timeline: Marketing materials cite a preliminary utility service assessment for 10 MW by late 2028 and full expansion up to 40 MW by late 2029.
• Intended Use: High-density AI compute / High-Performance Computing (HPC), advanced industrial manufacturing, or utility-scale energy/battery storage.

  +-------------------------------------------------------------+
  |              324 Recker Highway (13 Acres)                  |
  |         Target: 40 MW Mid-Size AI / HPC Data Center         |
  +-------------------------------------------------------------+
                               |
       Direct Adjacency & Redundant 230 kV Interconnect
                               |
  +-------------------------------------------------------------+
  |    Osprey Energy Center (540 MW) & Substation Node          |
  +-------------------------------------------------------------+

Regional Context & Surrounding Proposals

Data center demand along the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando is driving several nearby proposals across Polk County:

• Lakeland (“Project Swan”): A proposed 600,000-square-foot hyperscale data center on ~60 acres off Old Tampa Highway. In response to power and water concerns, Lakeland city leaders introduced temporary moratoriums to establish long-term regulations for heavy utility users.
• Fort Meade: Final site approvals were granted for a large-scale, $2.6B, 4.4 million-square-foot hyperscale campus across 1,100+ acres.