Billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs said to be on tap
By Justin Sayers – Senior Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Aug 18, 2025
Hutto Economic Development Director Cheney Gamboa quips she can’t make the Texas weather cooperate when it comes to celebrating the start and finish of construction on a key spine road in the city’s industrial megasite. A groundbreaking took place when it was cold and windy, and now a grand opening is planned for early September in what’s likely to be 90-plus-degree heat.
Nonetheless, the fast growing city northeast of Austin, with the help of El Paso-based Jordan Foster Construction LLC, has completed the $18 million road, a major milestone toward bringing a slew of industrial development to the site — an assemblage of 1,400 city and privately owned acres — that’s along a highway long viewed by experts as among the most desirable stretches in the country.
Four land closings and another big industrial project are contingent on the road, along with a fire access road. That means Hutto is now on track to receive tens of billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs spread across data centers, industrial buildings, flex office buildings, retail and commercial developments and much more. In addition, hundreds of acres are left to sell.
The Austin Business Journal has tracked the projects for several years, a process that has required official open records requests and opinions from the Texas Attorney General’s Office to glean information in some instances. Here is the latest on where things stand.
PowerCampus coming to fruition
Dallas-based Skybox Datacenters LLC and San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. are well into building what’s called the PowerCampus data center campus on about 159 acres.
The roughly 600-megawatt project could total 3.9 million square feet across six buildings, plus warehouse space. The minimum capital investment is estimated at $10 billion. Officials have said that at least the first building is fully leased, while construction of it and two others could be completed by 2026.
Skybox Chief Development Officer Haynes Strader said the first three buildings are on track to deliver early next year. Gamboa said one is nearing completion, a second has a shell and a third is under construction. Transmission companies Oncor Electric Delivery Co. and the Lower Colorado River Authority own about 70 acres adjacent to the project.
Prologis senior vice president JC Witt said the project is going to drive “real local economic growth,” and that they’ve already been in the community, sponsoring Hutto Police programs, Hutto Chamber events and engaging with city leaders, “reflecting out long-term commitment to Hutto.”
Large industrial project now clear for development
Albuquerque-based Titan Development Ltd. has closed on land for the 188-acre Hutto Mega TechCenter. But the project hasn’t started because it was contingent on the spine road.
Initial plans called for upwards of 2 million square feet of speculative high-tech industrial space, with buildings ranging from 200,000 square feet to more than 1 million.
Titan representatives said they have no new updates, although they previously said the project was on track.
Gamboa said the road satisfies the Titan agreement, but she added that the developer may renegotiate updated timelines.
Project Sequel
As work continues on their PowerCampus, Skybox and Prologis are in early planning stages of another 140-acre project dubbed “Project Sequel.” The companies have declined to provide details, but it’s safe to assume it likely will be similar to the PowerCampus and could bring billions of dollars of investment.
The purchase-and-sale agreement has regularly been pushed back, and Gamboa said the current option should be exercised by early next year.
She said approvals are still needed from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state power grid, and Oncor. But she said she’s hopeful that will happen “sooner rather than later.”
Skybox and Prologis officials haven’t commented on that. But Strader said the companies “have enjoyed a strong partnership with the Hutto city staff, council, and mayor and will continue to find ways to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes for our community partners.”
Project Strat3
Two Austin-based companies, Live Oak and Riverside (formerly Riverside Resources), are teaming up on a 52-acre industrial project that some previously said would cater to companies in Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s supply chain for its operations in nearby Taylor.
The purchase-and-sale agreement is expected to close in the fall, and Gamboa said the companies have already submitted site and building plans.
“They’re ready to get going and start putting some space together for some tenants,” she said.
Representatives of the development team said they weren’t ready to release specific details yet. Still, the project is expected to offer hundreds of thousands of square feet of industrial space. The companies also teamed up on the ongoing New Hope project in Cedar Park.
Live Oak CEO Scott Flack said in an email that they should be in a better position to release more information in the fall once they have their site development permit and have hammered out the timeline and schedule of the closing. That will come after Hutto meets obligations for utilities, drainage and access.
“We are very pleased with the progress particularly regarding the spine road,” as well as construction of the East Wilco Highway and Southeast Loop, he added.
Project Flex
Georgetown-based Headwater Commercial Realty LLC is working on what it describes as one of its biggest projects ever on about 20 acres in the megasite. It’s being called “Project Flex.”
Headwater officials previously said the 242,000-square-foot project is suitable for research and development and flex manufacturing space. It consists of three shallow-bay industrial buildings, two of which are about 66,000 square feet each and one that is 109,000 square feet. The goal is to attract Samsung suppliers and vendors.
Gamboa said the deadline to close is October, and Headwater has previously indicated it wants to be one of the first off the ground in the megasite.
Headwater officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What’s next?
Interest in the megasite has been ongoing for a decade. In fact, the project once was pitched as a long-shot bid for the Tesla Inc. gigafactory. It’s also gotten the attention of other big companies, like Applied Materials Inc.
Those projects didn’t come to fruition, nor did Project Fe, another flex industrial project, and Project ESLO, a mixed-use development.
Gamboa also indicated in a recent public meeting that several other projects in the city are inactive. That includes a 300-acre pharmaceutical manufacturer that was outside the megasite. There’s also a potential land swap called Project Maestro.
The Hutto Economic Development Corp. owns about 450 acres of the megasite. Gamboa estimated it still has about 130 acres of industrial land and 60 acres of retail and mixed-use commercial space along the frontage line.
She said imminent and future land sales will help pay down debts and loans for actions like the reacquisition of the Cottonwood property. The fate of that 250-acre parcel will soon come into focus because Houston-based Midway Development Group LLC has an impending option to purchase the land for what’s going to be a major mixed-use project.
Gamboa said having that cash will help the EDC reinvest into other projects.
“I think that’s going to be a really fun story and next step and chapter for the EDC — once they start to have land sales and have some revenue, how they choose to reinvest that back into the community. I’m super excited. I think that’s going to be a really fun time to be a part of,” she said.
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