$500M tax break approved for CloudBurst data center near New Braunfels From the cover
What you need to know
CloudBurst data center site plan The data center, located at 2955 Francis Harris Lane, will span 706 acres along the Guadalupe County-Hays County boundary.
A new data center is breaking ground near New Braunfels following Guadalupe County commissioners approval of a $500 million Chapter 312 property tax abatement and development agreement with CloudBurst Texas. The data center, located at 2955 Francis Harris Lane, will span 706 acres along the Guadalupe County-Hays County boundary. The data center is positioned to serve the Austin and San Antonio markets, according to the tax abatement agreement. Area residents spoke at the April 21 Commissioners Court meeting about concerns over water and electricity usage and health impacts. CloudBurst would use 24,000 gallons of water a day while utilizing a closed-loop system. It is not expected to increase local utility bills, said Cynthia Thompson, director, executive chairperson and co-founder of CloudBurst. The development agreement and tax abatement passed in a 3-2 vote. Precinct 1 Commissioner Jacqueline Ott and Precinct 4 Commissioner Stephen Germann dissented. The decision comes after the court rejected the tax abatement request for the data center in February.
Purchased land Planned development
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C E N T E R P O I N T R D .
The data center will have 10 12 AI-ready buildings.
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MAP NOT TO SCALE
Digging deeper
Explained
Thompson said they will be using a dormant gas line to create energy for the data center. CloudBurst Data Centers entered into a long-term agreement with Energy Transfer in February 2025 for 1.2 gigawatts of direct “behind-the-meter” electric power. “We will not be driving up local electric bills to the community,” Thompson said. The Arti cial Intelligence data center will be using a closed-loop water cooling system with commercially sourced water or wastewater and 20% propylene glycol mixture. Propylene glycol is a synthetic liquid substance that absorbs water and is “generally recognized as safe,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The substance can also soak into soil and break down within several days to a week, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. A closed-loop system uses mechanical cooling, similar to the way people cool their homes. Pipes with hot water continuously recirculate through cooling rooms within the data center, said Robert Mace, executive director of The Meadows Center
for Water and the Environment. Although the water could be sourced from Crystal Clear Special Utility District, Thompson said there is a signi cant amount of wastewater available from three di erent sources, which she did not name.
Navarro ISD is expected to be the main bene ciary from the tax abatement. “The bene t to Navarro ISD’s students, fac- ulty and sta is [going to] be very bene cial in the long term,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Drew Engelke said.
By the numbers
15-year tax revenue projection by jurisdiction
480 permanent jobs
Navarro ISD: $1.6B
York Creek Water Improvement District: $5.89M Guadalupe County: $165.7M Lateral Road: $68.08M
1.2 gigawatts of “behind-the-meter” electric power
24K gallons of water per day, 96 living unit equivalent
85 decibels at 10 feet
706.4 acres total
Total: $1.8B
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