Florida Officials Grant Initial Approval for 3.7 Million Sq Ft Data Center Campus

Florida Officials Grant Initial Approval for 3.7 Million Sq Ft Data Center Campus December 8, 2025 A major data center development in Florida has cleared its first regulatory hurdle, signaling continued robust growth for the state's digital infrastructure sector as demand for AI and cloud computing capacity surges nationwide. The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission has recommended approval for "Project Tango," a proposed data center campus in the Loxahatchee area, approximately 17 miles west of West Palm Beach. The project is being developed by investment firm PBA Holdings on a 202-acre site. At full build-out, the campus is planned to encompass up to 3.69 million square feet of space. The site benefits from proximity to significant power infrastructure, being located near Florida Power & Light's 1.25-gigawatt West County Energy Center, one of the largest natural gas power plants in the United States. The land was previously zoned for up to 2 million square feet of industrial use following a 2016 approval. The project has faced local opposition, with a community petition garnering over 2,100 signatures. The petition argues that "the sheer scale of this project... poses a substantial threat to the health, safety, and well-being of residents," urging officials to consider alternative locations that minimize impact on residential communities. The preliminary approval highlights the ongoing tension between rapid data center expansion and local community concerns, a dynamic playing out in markets across the U.S. as developers seek sites with available land and power capacity. The final decision now rests with the Palm Beach County Commission. Source: datacenterdynamics