{"id":87544,"date":"2026-11-09T19:55:38","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T00:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=87544"},"modified":"2026-11-09T19:55:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T00:55:44","slug":"auburndale-to-hold-special-meeting-on-massive-new-data-center-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/11\/09\/auburndale-to-hold-special-meeting-on-massive-new-data-center-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburndale to Hold Special Meeting on Massive New Data Center Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Commissioners will consider plans for the proposed Auburndale Technology Center, which will be built into existing warehouse space at 810 and 820 Pace Road, south of Interstate 4 and east of Polk Parkway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located near Florida Polytechnic University, the land was designated as part of the Central Florida Innovation District, a 3,000-acre area aimed at attracting tech start-ups and existing businesses to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission approved various industrial uses for the 75-acre Pace Road parcel in 2023, which allowed for the development of a data center. Construction began in 2024, and the property was acquired in December 2025 by Pace Road DC Development, LLC, according to the city of Auburndale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LLC, tied to the Texas-based developer Hillwood, submitted a site plan on November 6, which indicated that they are converting the interior structures of the warehouses to accommodate a data center. There is no word on who will operate the data center once it\u2019s completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TECO will provide electricity to the new data center, whose developers estimate it will need 700 megawatts. In accordance with a new Florida law that took effect this summer, the Auburndale Technology Center will pay for all its power, and a water conservation plan is in place, according to the developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water use permits for the site were obtained by its previous owners under a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Potable Water application and approved by the Polk County Health Department in October 2024. Pace Road DC Development estimates the site will require 4,665 gallons of water per day, which it says is less than what was allocated for the warehouse use planned by the former property owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Auburndale Technology Center will use a closed-loop water cooling system, which circulates the same fluid through a sealed loop to absorb and dissipate heat,\u201d the developer\u2019s website says. \u201cBecause the water is reused again and again rather than replaced, this significantly reduces overall water demand compared to open-loop systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City Commission Special Workshop is planned for November 10 at 6:30 p.m. It will take place in the Ariana Suite at Lake Ariana Civic Center, located at 2220 Lake Ariana Blvd. in Auburndale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commissioners will consider plans for the proposed Auburndale Technology Center, which will be built into existing warehouse space at 810 and 820 Pace Road, south of Interstate 4 and east… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzExXC9pbWFnZXMtMi02LndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJBdWJ1cm5kYWxlIHRvIEhvbGQgU3BlY2lhbCBNZWV0aW5nIG9uIE1hc3NpdmUgTmV3IERhdGEgQ2VudGVyIFBsYW5zIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.4JokKOvVJi5ngQsk4BTC2QI5D7CYWzEM9BOP0ZRQr6UMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87546,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87544\/revisions\/87546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}