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A massive data center could be coming to west Lakeland.
A Tampa-area developer is proposing a project of up to 600,000 square feet on 60.5 acres of currently undeveloped land near Old Tampa Highway and Wilkinson Road. The proposal, called “Project Swan,” shows three data center buildings, large mechanical yards, stormwater ponds, and an electrical substation at 923 Wilkinson Road.
It is the first hyperscale-style data center proposed within Lakeland’s city limits — but city officials say the project is in its earliest stage and may face basic questions about whether the use is allowed under the current city code.
The proposal lands as Central Florida is seeing a surge of large data center projects tied to artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Lakeland commissioners recently discussed the issue in response to a controversial 4.4-million-square-foot project proposed in Fort Meade.
Also read our companion article
First formal review
Kimley-Horn applied May 5 for concept plan review on behalf of Ryan Companies U.S. Inc.
“We’ve had meetings and informal discussions about this site and others,” Community and Economic Development Director Brian Rewis said, “but none that have gotten to this stage of comment and review.”
He stressed that the city did not initiate the project and has not approved or endorsed it.
“All we are doing at this point is processing an application for conceptual development review,” Rewis said.
The concept plan review is intended to give applicants early feedback from various city departments about whether a project is feasible and what hurdles it would need to clear.
A key code question
One of the biggest early questions is whether Lakeland’s land development code currently allows a data center.
Rewis said data centers are not listed in the code. “To our reading of our own code, there is no comparable use to a data center,” he said. “Which means if it’s not allowed, it’s prohibited.”
That does not necessarily end the proposal. But it means the applicant would have to convince the city that the project fits an existing allowed use, seek zoning and land-use changes, or wait for the city to amend its code.
Details remain unknown
The application does not identify the eventual tenant or operator. It does not say whether the facility would be used for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cryptocurrency, or another purpose.
It also does not list estimated water demand, solid waste generation, traffic impacts, noise, lighting, buffering, or electrical demand.
Rewis said those details would be required if the applicant moves from concept review to an engineered site plan review.
The substation shown on the concept plan gives at least some indication of the project’s potential power needs, Rewis said.
“You see that it includes roughly a 3.8-acre substation area, which, without a tremendous amount of technical detail, at least gives you an idea of the electric demand that this thing is going to have,” he said.
The plan does not show how power would get to the site.
The property
The project site includes four parcels, and part of the land is in unincorporated Polk County.
Rewis said the county portion would need to be annexed into Lakeland before the full project could move forward. Those parcels would also need city land-use designations and zoning.
Property records show Holmes Beach Family Tides LLC bought a 13.8-acre parcel from a private landowner in January 2023 for $406,000. It bought three other parcels from Old Tampa Hwy Investments for about $2.5 million in May 2023.
Old Tampa Hwy had acquired the largest of the three — 24.03 acres — nine months earlier from Green Technologies LLC for $1.1 million. Chief Planner Matt Lyons said that parcel is zoned for a biosolids fertilizer processing facility that was approved years ago but never built.
Old Tampa Hwy bought its other two parcels, totaling 15.93 acres and 6.68 acres, from Habitat for Humanity for $950,000 in August 2020. Lyons said Habitat for Humanity considered putting a residential development there, but odors from the wastewater plant created challenges for housing.
The neighbors
The site abuts the city-owned West Lakeland Wasteload Reduction Facility, which processes about 3.75 million gallons of industrial wastewater per day.
To the north, across Old Tampa Highway, is McLane Lakeland, a distribution company that focuses on deliveries to restaurants and convenience stores.
To the east, across Wilkinson Road, there are at least six homes, including one that operates Black Bee Energy, a small-scale apiary and beehive maker.
There are at least nine single-family homes scattered around the perimeter.
The new owner
Holmes Beach Family Tides is owned by investor, licensed construction financial officer, and serial entrepreneur Joel Schachter, 55, of Lutz.
Schachter also owns Sebring International Golf Resort and is tied to several other companies, including Rainmaker360 LLC, Service Drywall Company Inc., Journey’s End Investments LLC, and Hanlon Acoustical Ceilings Inc.
A voicemail message to Schachter was not returned Thursday, May 28.
What’s next
The concept is scheduled for discussion by city reviewers at a June 3 Development Review Team meeting.
That meeting is not open to the public or press. Rewis said it is an early staff review, not a public hearing or final decision.
Rewis sent an email last week to City Manager Shawn Sherrouse and other senior city officials, assuring them that staff are “appropriately sensitive to the use and impacts” and would keep city officials informed as the project is reviewed further.
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Keep close tabs on the zoning board, city commissioners and county commissioners to make sure they don’t sign nondisclosure agreements related to this project or give them huge tax breaks. Also they need to study and share the environmental, water, electrical, and road impacts and with the noise (hum) before voting on it. Read through the Facebook posts on “Watchdogs of Fort Meade” to see how those in charge will ram this through whether or not there is public opposition or any zoning regulations that prohibit it.
A quick Google query shows it may be less than beneficial to Lakeland. Here are the results: For a community, the primary cons of hosting a large data center include skyrocketing utility bills, massive resource consumption, severe noise and air pollution, and surprisingly few permanent jobs. Localities often end up providing massive tax breaks while citizens shoulder the burden of the infrastructure upgrades.
All you have to do is google how much water and power hyperscale data centers use. Hyperscale data centers use large amounts of water and power. We are under water restrictions currently. Where is the water going to come from and who is going to pay for the power?? The developer and tenant should pay for the power and not the citizens of Lakeland. These developers come in and sell the local politicians on how many jobs will be created and tax dollars they will receive. They tell them what they want to hear. Most politicians have no clue about data centers and rely on the developer to tell them. That’s a developers dream. Expose and fix it as we go along. They get them to sign NDA (Non-disclosure agreements) so they don’t have to notify the citizens as to what they are doing. This is happening all over the country and all you have to do is google it. Next the city will give them big tax breaks. Construction jobs will be created. Once the data center is completed there will be very few employees operating it and they will be high tech and will be working for the tenant who occupies the data center. Developers tell the politicians many jobs will be created yet they don’t know who the tenant will be. Like any new business moving into Lakeland they will use their own employees to set up shop. Before any approval the data center needs to be thoroughly studies as to how it will affect the city. Not just the tax dollars it will generate.
And just why are we on water restrictions, but yet, will construct a data center that will use large quantities of this precious resource?
I guarantee you this is already a done deal, regardless of whatever we might like to think. I happen to live in the area where this data center is coming and it has a lot of things they would need. It has a power substation on the local grid. It has near by high capacity, high voltage wires which have been under various upgrades lately in and around that area and near by neighborhoods. It sits on a property with a wastewater treatment facility so you can assume treating the water from it wouldn’t be a problem. And further more they’ve only just now got around to installing A LOT of fiber optic cabling around here. Mind you we have been on basic coaxial with limited fiber for a very long time, and now all of sudden we have these new fiber lines being laid. It would not take much to read through the weeds on this one to see that it’s already happening. Maybe not in large ways, but put enough disparate parts together and voila you have the foundation for a data center ready to go before anyone can say no. And why would they at this point? To the untrained eye, it looks like just basic service and infrastructure updates. And if it’s one other thing we know that the current governments love isan “infusion” of cash and this seems to be funded by some people who already have private equity, so the tax incentives would be a great way for them to save more money that they don’t need to save at the expense of John or Jane Q Taxpayer. And when questioned they can simply say “look at all the upgrades we’ve done for your neighborhood.” Personally I think maybe they should reach out to the Ruthvens and see about setting them up in all these empty warehouse that they keep throwing up and sit vacant for years on end. At least the next time we have a hurricane and that area floods over so badly (because it does, while not in a flood zone the land around here is kind of low lying) maybe it will take out a few of those servers with it. At least we’ll still have the fiber optic cable to be thankful for.