Seven operating buildings and three more under development: that is how one hyperscale campus in Los Lunas stood by July 2025, past 4 million square feet and still growing. For anyone planning a data center in the Albuquerque area, it is the clearest proof that the middle Rio Grande valley can host this kind of load, and it sets the bar for what a builder here has to deliver.
Data center owners are not buying a warehouse with extra power. They are buying a power and cooling plant wrapped in a building, with a schedule set by utility interconnection and equipment delivery. We approach the work from that angle. Site selection starts with where the substations, fiber and water are, then moves to drainage, soils and wind exposure, and only then to the shell. A pad that looks cheap but needs a long feeder or a deep storm outfall is not cheap.
We work with developers, colocation operators and enterprise owners who need a general contractor comfortable with multi-year, phased campuses. That means clean temporary power, controlled site access, careful commissioning records and a team that understands why a single missing flange or late generator can hold a whole hall.
Our scope typically starts with mass grading and a fully drained pad, then runs through foundations, slab, structural steel or tilt wall, roofing, and the equipment yards that sit around the hall. We schedule and supervise the concrete and civil packages: slab-on-grade with embedded conduit, generator and switchgear pads, fuel storage containment, and the duct banks that tie everything together. The underground electrical work is large on these projects, so the electrical duct bank trade crews plan routes, concrete encasement and manholes before the first trench is opened.
Inside the building we coordinate raised floor or slab-on-grade layouts, hot-aisle containment support steel, and the structural provisions for rooftop or ground-mounted cooling. For smaller colocation or edge facilities we also deliver data center support buildings such as electrical enclosures, security vestibules and operations offices that sit beside the main halls.
On a data center, the building is a minority of the budget. Electrical gear, cooling equipment and commissioning dominate, so a builder's value shows up in avoided rework and protected schedule rather than a lower price per square foot. The common cost movers are utility upgrades that arrive late, generator and switchgear lead times, additional fire suppression requirements, and changes to hall density after design is released.
Site cost matters more than owners expect. Marketed land in the metro has included a 365-acre industrial park next to a power generation station, with initial power of up to 170 MW marketed within 12 to 18 months pending permits, and a 716-acre park near Los Lunas with village water and sewer. Those listings are a reminder that power availability and utilities are line items on the same page as grading and paving. We price those site items next to the building so an owner can compare parcels honestly, and we flag the grading and drainage work that a flat-looking lot may hide.
On every site visit we start the same way: look uphill. Flat mesa and valley land can send storm runoff across a pad with little warning, and a data hall has no tolerance for water at the doors. We set finished floor elevations above the design flow, build detention that can be inspected and maintained, and keep stormwater away from equipment yards and fuel areas. If you are comparing parcels, our stormwater detention and drainage work gives you a realistic number early.
Dust and wind are the quieter issues. Fine particulate can reach air intakes and filters during construction, and gusts affect crane picks, roofing and rooftop equipment placement. We keep construction air clean with wetting, stabilized haul roads and washed entrances, and we schedule heavy lifts around the forecast. For the large exterior yards that hold generators and cooling plant, we prefer stabilized and well-drained surfaces to loose gravel that moves in the wind.
The Los Lunas campus did not appear all at once. It was announced in 2016, opened in 2019, and added buildings in stages, with more than 1,000 construction workers on site at the peak. A Village of Los Lunas presentation in October 2024 listed that campus at 750 acres and 4.2 million square feet, with more than 50 active projects in the village and an I-25 interchange planned for 2025. Owners who see that kind of growth should plan their own site for expansion from day one, with room for additional halls, power yards and stormwater.
We schedule data center work in repeatable blocks. The first building proves the sequence for grading, underground, shell, MEP and commissioning, then later phases use the same trade partners and lessons. That is how our phased construction approach protects live halls while new ones are built next door, with separate access, vibration and dust controls, and shutdown windows agreed in advance.
Data center schedules depend on supporting services. Our preconstruction team can run preconstruction services that test sites, price alternatives and map long-lead equipment to the schedule. Owners who plan more than one site, or more than one hall, can rely on our programmatic rollout experience to carry standards and lessons from one project to the next.
Commissioning is part of the build, not an afterthought. We keep test records organized, coordinate vendors for integrated systems testing, and run turnover so that the operations team inherits drawings, warranties and training that match what was actually installed.
Hyperscale halls get the headlines, but the market also needs smaller facilities. Enterprise owners looking at a single-hall build, colocation operators with a few megawatts to deploy, and edge operators serving a local region all have different needs. We deliver the full data center building as well as the supporting structures around it, and we adapt tilt-wall, steel or precast approaches to the owner's speed and security preferences. A neighboring advanced manufacturing plant often wants the same power and the same drainage solution. If another industry shares your parcel, such as a utilities and power developer building the substation next door, we coordinate the interface early.
Tell us the parcel, the megawatts and the target energization date. We will price grading, drainage, underground utilities and the building so you can compare options on the same basis.
It depends on whether the electrical service and equipment are already in motion. A graded pad can become a closed shell in a matter of months with tilt wall or steel, but commissioning follows equipment delivery, not the building. The honest answer is that utility interconnection and long-lead equipment decide the end date. We give owners a sequence that shows which events control the schedule and which ones are flexible.
Start with power, water and sewer capacity, then stormwater and soils. Flat-looking valley parcels can be near drainage paths or have high groundwater, and some land sits close to rail and existing industrial uses. Ask for a geotechnical report and a drainage concept before closing. We can price grading, detention and underground utilities during due diligence so you see the full site cost.
Yes. We build new phases with separate construction entrances, clean temporary power and strict traffic control around operating halls. Tie-ins to existing electrical or cooling systems are scheduled in short, pre-approved windows, with tested fall-back plans. Most of the discipline lies in planning the shutdown and the commissioning, not in the shell itself.
Dust control and stormwater control are both written into the site plan. We wet and stabilize haul roads, wash truck tires at the exit, protect new air intakes during construction and keep inlet filters changed. For water, we build detention before vertical construction starts and keep drainage swales clear. Summer storms are short but intense, so protection is in place before the weather arrives.
Both. If you have an engineer of record and a prototype hall, we price and build from those documents. If you want a single team from site selection through turnover, our industrial design-build delivery combines design and construction under one contract.
Tell us about the property, the building and the schedule.
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