A 1,400 acre data center campus is under construction in Santa Teresa, according to an August 2026 report, which puts southern New Mexico on the list of places where large compute buildings are being built. A campus of that size is a utility project first and a building project second. Power, water, fiber and drainage have to be in place before the halls can be energized, and the contractors who understand that sequence deliver the buildings sooner.
We build the structures and the site infrastructure around them: the shell, the concrete slabs and equipment pads, the underground electrical duct banks, the fire water and the security perimeter. Data hall shells are usually tilt-wall or metal building construction, chosen for speed and for the ease of adding bays as demand grows. Our data center construction scope covers the full campus, and our data center support buildings scope covers the electrical, generator and operations buildings around it.
Owners usually want to know three things at the start: how soon power can arrive, how much water the cooling design will use, and how the site handles dust and heat. We answer them with the utility, the civil engineer and the mechanical designer before the shell drawings are issued.
Santa Teresa sits at an elevation of 3,937 feet, and the air at that height is thinner than at sea level, which reduces the cooling capacity of air-cooled equipment and fans. Mechanical designers adjust for it, and we make sure the equipment pads, mounting heights and clearances match the derated selections. The annual precipitation in Las Cruces averages 9.14 inches, so there is little rain to wash the site, and spring winds carry blowing dust that can clog filters and coat equipment.
We treat dust as a construction and an operations problem. During construction we control it with water trucks, stabilized access roads and covered stockpiles. For operations we coordinate with the designers on air intake placement, filtration, positive pressure in data halls, and a finished site that does not shed dust, using paving, gravel stabilization and landscaping suited to the climate.
The Santa Teresa industrial area has a port of entry, a rail park, an airport and available land, and a data center campus can use all four: the rail and road network for heavy equipment, the airport for urgent parts, and the land for the generators, substations and cooling yards a campus needs. The Dona Ana County Jetport is a few miles away and the interstate network links the site to the rest of the region.
Power is the other factor, and it ties data center work to utilities and power work. New substations, transmission interconnections and on-site generation all bring civil, electrical and structural scopes that we already perform for industrial owners. Understanding the utility's process and its queue is as important as the building design.
The building is designed to the 2021 New Mexico Commercial Building Code, which adopts the 2021 International Building Code as amended, and the electrical systems follow the 2020 New Mexico Electrical Code and the 2020 National Electrical Code. The 2021 Commercial Energy Conservation Code covers the envelope and the mechanical systems, and data hall cooling is a major part of the compliance path.
Large campuses also involve stormwater review, fire department review of fire water and clean agent systems, and utility interconnection agreements. We prepare the permit set and schedule the submittals so they are not on the critical path. For owners who want a single party to track those items, we offer permitting coordination as a separate scope.
Site work and concrete are the scopes where trade coordination pays off on a data center. Mass grading, utility trenching, duct banks encased in concrete, equipment pads and tilt-wall panels are all repetitive, quantity-driven work, and doing them with our trade partners gives us control of the schedule. The electrical duct bank, in particular, has to be right because it cannot be re-run after the slab is poured.
We coordinate the specialty trades, including electrical gear installation, mechanical systems and low-voltage, around that foundation of civil and structural work. See our underground electrical duct bank service for how we place and test the conduit before backfill.
Data center schedules are driven by power and equipment delivery. Transformers, switchgear and generators can take longer to arrive than the building takes to build, so we order them as early as the design allows. We sequence the work in phases, with the first data hall and its infrastructure complete and commissioned before the next hall begins, so the owner can start earning on the first phase while construction continues on the rest.
The commissioning period is longer than most owners expect. Electrical testing, mechanical balancing, integrated systems testing and documentation all run after the building is physically complete, and we include them in the baseline schedule instead of treating them as closeout.
Send the megawatt target, the phasing plan and the parcel, and we will outline the shell, site infrastructure and a realistic sequence. Call or use the form.
Santa Teresa sits near 3,937 feet, where the thinner air reduces the capacity of air-cooled equipment and fans. Mechanical designers apply altitude derating, and we place and size equipment pads and clearances to match the selected equipment. It is a normal adjustment for desert and high-plains projects.
Yes. Las Cruces averages 9.14 inches of precipitation a year, so owners and designers weigh water-cooled systems against air-cooled or hybrid systems and the cost of securing water. We build the site infrastructure for whichever cooling approach is chosen, including water storage and treatment buildings.
The site infrastructure: grading, drainage, roads, utility corridors and the first duct banks. Doing that work ahead of the first data hall shortens the critical path for later halls and lets utilities and fiber crews work without disturbing finished buildings.
By controlling it at three points: stabilized site surfaces and paving, filtered and pressurized air handling, and a clean construction sequence in which the envelope is closed before sensitive equipment is delivered. We coordinate with the mechanical designer on filtration and with the commissioning agent on cleanliness checks.
Yes. We design the shell and the infrastructure so the first hall can be energized while the next hall is under construction, with temporary separation and protected utility routes. The sequence is built into the baseline schedule.