How I Underwrote a 200MW Data Centre in Utah, USA

I underwrote a 200MW data centre in Utah.

This one has its own power plant.

- 243 acres in the I-15 corridor
- 1,350,000+ sq ft at full build
- 100–200MW Tier 3 Class A
- Dedicated natural gas micro-grid
- Conditional use permit already in hand

To fund deals like this, I ask 4 questions:

1) What stage of risk are we in?

- Gas supply and transmission: contracted
- Gen-sets and transformers: invoiced and ordered
- Air permit feasibility: done
- Conditional use permit: received

2) What makes the location work?

- Cold desert climate = water-free cooling
- 20–75% cost reduction on cooling
- Sub-1ms latency to Salt Lake City Internet Exchange
- 15 carriers on site including Cloudflare & Lumen
- Direct connects to AWS, Azure, Google, and Oracle
- Zero tornadoes, low composite disaster risk

3) How is the downside protected?

- Waste heat reuse cuts cooling costs a further 30%
- Senate Bill 114 tax incentives reduce TCO
- Phased capital deployment (Phase 1 then Phase 2)

4) Can we control the exit?

- 200MW campus scale attracts hyperscalers
- It will also attract institutional buyers
- Sell the site, lease to a co-lo, or operate

The honest flag: no tenant LOI disclosed. Powered and permitted land holds real value, but a signed anchor tenant is what turns this from a development bet into a cash flow asset.

My verdict:

- Strong fit for private credit
- Strong fit for family offices
- Strong fit for institutions

If you allocate to real assets, let's connect 👋