Campuses that grow one building at a time reward a contractor who can repeat a proven sequence: grade the pad, pull the utilities, raise the shell, fit out the mechanical yard, and move on to the next. We build that way in Los Lunas, where the data center boom has made phased expansion the normal way to develop industrial ground, and where rail and interstate access keep drawing warehouse and logistics users to the Valencia County side of the river.
The scale of the local hyperscale campus explains why. The operator announced the project in September 2016, opened it in February 2019, and by July 2025 the site was over 4 million square feet with seven buildings operating and three more under development. A November 2021 report put total investment at $2.2 billion for nearly 3.8 million square feet of data center space. At peak, the campus employed more than 1,000 construction workers, which tells you how much labor, equipment and materials coordination a project of this kind demands.
On your project we apply the same discipline, whether it is a data hall support building, a power and cooling yard or a distribution warehouse. A phase-based plan, early procurement and a managed civil package let you add capacity on a predictable cadence. For buyers still choosing between design paths, our data center construction approach explains how we organize repeat buildings.
Data center sites need more than the building itself. Our trade partners install fire water loops and hydrants, duct banks for utility feeds and generator tie-ins, and stabilized yards for equipment delivery. When an operator wants smaller buildings to house electrical rooms, security and maintenance, we build data center support buildings in concrete, steel or metal-panel systems, matched to the main campus design.
We also handle the parts that do not make the brochure: a pad that drains, a gravel road that holds up under 80,000-pound trucks, security fencing and lighting that meet the owner's protocol, and a stormwater system that complies with local regulations. These are quiet items, but they decide whether the campus opens on time.
Los Lunas lies on State Highway 6 east of I-25, on the west bank of the Rio Grande, and is served by NM 314. It is the Valencia County seat at 4,860 feet, which puts it lower than the mesa communities to the north and east. The commuter rail line stops in the village, and a university branch campus sits there too.
The economic effect has been significant: a July 2025 report says the campus is projected to support 400 operational jobs once the expansion is complete and has generated $145 million in gross receipts tax for the village over its life. For an owner planning an expansion, that revenue is a reason to ask early about road, water and sewer capacity. Nearby, the central New Mexico rail park offers a different model, built around freight.
We design our schedule around repetition. The first building teaches the sequence: how long the pad needs to cure, how deep the trench for the main feed has to be, how many days a crane needs for the roof deck. The second building gets built faster, with the same crew leads and the same inspection checkpoints. By the third, the work reads like a production line.
That requires disciplined documentation. We keep a log of lessons learned after every building, update the quantities for the next one and share them with the owner. If your campus plan is still in flux, we model phase sizes so you can see the cost of one large building against two smaller ones. Where it makes sense, we propose industrial design-build to compress the front end.
On a data center, equipment drives the schedule. Generators, switchgear, chillers and transformers take months to arrive, and an owner who orders them late will watch a finished shell wait. We build a procurement log at the start of preconstruction and use long-lead procurement management to track every item against its need-by date on site.
Weather is the other variable. Summer thunderstorms interrupt trenching and slab pours, and winter freezes limit concrete work on some mornings. Because Los Lunas sits near the river, we also watch for high groundwater in utility trenches and plan dewatering where it applies. A schedule that includes a weather allowance is more honest than one that assumes perfect days.
For hyperscale-style work, the building shell is the smaller part of the budget; mechanical, electrical and power systems dominate. Redundant power paths, generator yards and cooling plants carry high cost and long lead times, so design choices there decide the project cost. We provide unit pricing for each system and show how a change in redundancy would move the total.
Site conditions matter as well. Imported structural fill, haul distance, rail or truck delivery of large equipment and temporary power during construction can each add six or seven figures on a large campus. If your plan includes a warehouse or logistics building alongside the data hall, we can compare its cost to a similar facility near Belen, where rail and interstate access are similar.
Bring the site, the power requirement and the number of buildings you expect to build. We will outline the phasing options, the long-lead path and a budget range. Call or send a note through the contact form.
We build the infrastructure for the full campus first when it is practical, including main utility trunks, drainage and access roads, then add buildings in sequence. Each phase gets its own permit set, inspections and turnover. The master schedule shows which systems need to be live before the next building starts, so a late delivery does not hold the whole campus hostage.
Not usually special materials, but tight tolerances. Slabs often carry heavy equipment loads and need controlled flatness, and structural steel must handle rooftop mechanical and cable tray loads. We coordinate with equipment vendors early to confirm pad sizes, anchor bolt layouts and rigging paths before concrete goes in.
Power capacity is the first question, then water and sewer, then fiber. Extensions can take longer than the building, so we ask the utilities for will-serve letters and construction schedules during preconstruction. Where the owner brings a dedicated substation, we coordinate trenching, conduit and testing with the utility.
Yes. Los Lunas also supports warehouses, service shops and light manufacturing near I-25. Smaller users get the same benefits of interstate access and local government support, and our work for data center operators shows how we handle high-spec projects when your program demands it.
We plan for it. Drainage swales and temporary sediment controls go in before the first deep excavation, and we keep stockpiles stable. Concrete placements are watched against forecasts, and we carry covers and pumps on site. If a storm closes a day, we switch crews to interior or underground work.
Tell us about the property, the building and the schedule.
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