EdgeCore gained approval from Mesa’s planning and zoning board on March 11 to build out a data center site in the city, according to the East Valley Tribune.
The green light comes after the Denver-based developer agreed to shrink its proposed center from 2.1M SF to 1.2M SF. The project will now go before the Mesa City Council.
The project covers half of an approximately 90-acre site already owned by EdgeCore in the Eastmark community along the technology corridor. The proposed data center consists of two, 618K SF multistoried buildings, generators and 197 parking spaces.
The original plan featured three separate buildings as well as a 350K SF SRP substation with an additional 250 megawatts of capacity, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. For the revised plan, EdgeCore removed the third building on the southernmost end of the site.
Last summer, Mesa’s planning and zoning board voted for new regulations around data centers and where they could be built, restricting future projects to land zoned for industrial use. The city was reportedly worried about losing land that could be utilized by aerospace, bioscience and innovation companies, which would employ more people.
EdgeCore, however, is not affected by the ordinance since its initial application for the expansion was submitted in January 2024. This came after the developer secured $1.9B in financing for the project. MUFG Bank served as the administrative agent for the loan, which was led by TD Securities, ING Capital LLC, Scotia Bank, Santander and MUFG, PBJ reported.
The company bought about 44 acres of land for the project in May 2025 for nearly $44M from an entity tracing back to Brookfield Properties, PBJ reported.
The board’s approval came with certain conditions, such as generator testing only taking place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Additionally, EdgeCore is reportedly required to install four murals on each of the buildings. And any proposed permanent or temporary structures on the site are subject to an FAA filing for review due to the center’s location near Mesa Gateway Airport.
