Most Oklahoma data center conversations start with a megawatt number rather than a square footage, and that is the right place to start. The building is the container; the product is power, cooling and uptime, and every decision about the shell follows from how much of each the site can deliver. Oklahoma has already shown what that looks like at scale. KTUL reported in 2022 that investment at the Pryor data center had reached a total of $4.4 billion, with more than 800 people in full-time and supplier roles, and News On 6 reported in August 2026 that another campus spans 506 acres in unincorporated Tulsa County west of Owasso.
Those are campuses, not buildings. A campus brings its own phasing, its own utility agreements and its own relationship with the county and the power provider, and the general contractor's job begins long before a slab is poured. We build data center shells and fit-out packages, and we work with owners and their design teams on the parts of the project that decide the schedule: the civil work, the power path, the cooling plant and the commissioning plan.
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce reports that Oklahoma produces 61 percent more energy than it consumes, that renewables generate 47 percent of the state's electricity and that energy costs run 17 percent below the national average. Power cost and availability are the first filters for a data center owner, and those numbers explain a long list of announcements. Some are firm; some are proposals. Plainsman Holdings, for example, has proposed four campuses in Enid, with developers estimating up to $35 billion in capital investment, but News 9 reported that rezoning had been filed for two sites and no city approval had yet been given.
We treat announcements with that kind of care, and we advise owners to do the same. A site that is announced is not a site that is approved, and an approved site is not one with power delivered. Our early work with owners covers land, entitlement status, utility interconnection and water, so the owner knows what is firm before the building budget is built. Owners in Tulsa and Pryor have the most mature supply chains for this work.
Power is the longest lead item in any data center, and the utility may need to build a substation or a transmission line before the first rack is energized. We ask for the interconnection schedule on the first day, because the building cannot be commissioned until power is available. Backup generation, fuel storage and uninterruptible power systems follow, and their lead times often exceed the shell's construction time.
Cooling is next. Air-cooled, chilled-water and liquid-cooled designs have different mechanical yards, water needs and noise profiles, and the owner's choice affects the footprint of the whole campus. Water supply is a real Oklahoma question in some regions, and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board's permit process applies to users who need significant volumes. The mechanical yard and utility corridors look more like those of a manufacturing plant than an office, and the site work for these campuses is substantial, and the trade partners for mass grading and site development and utilities carry out the earthwork, duct banks and drainage.
Data center schedules are built around phases. The Tulsa County campus described by the Tulsa Regional Chamber, for example, was announced as up to four facilities across multiple phases, with first-phase completion scheduled for summer 2027. That structure lets an owner start earning revenue from the first building while later buildings are still under construction.
The general contractor's job in a phased program is to keep the construction of the next phase from disturbing the live one. That means separate access roads, separate laydown areas, controlled hot work near energized equipment and a clear boundary on utilities. Commissioning, which includes integrated testing of power, cooling and controls under simulated failures, is a large piece of the schedule and has to be planned from the start, as described on our commissioning and closeout page.
Large data centers draw public attention, and approval can depend on zoning decisions, utility agreements and community input. The Sand Springs city council approved Project Spring, a data center on annexed land, in February 2026, according to a published account, with construction expected to run from 2027 to 2029. Enid's proposal shows the other side, with rezoning requests still pending. We help owners read these processes and build schedules that do not assume approvals that have not yet been given.
On the building side, each project follows the codes the local authority adopts and enforces, including local amendments. For campuses in unincorporated areas, county rules and fire district requirements can differ from a city's. Our permitting and entitlements group confirms which jurisdiction governs each building before design begins.
We build with the owner's design team and, where the program allows, take on early procurement and constructability reviews so the shell, mechanical yard and power equipment are coordinated before drawings are final. Owners who want a single point of responsibility often choose data center construction under a design-build or construction-management arrangement.
We also recognize that not every data center is a hyperscale campus. Smaller edge and enterprise facilities fit into existing industrial buildings, and a good flex or light industrial shell can be converted at far lower cost than a new building. We tell owners honestly when conversion is the better path, and when commercial real estate developers are weighing a new build against a large warehouse shell we price both.
Tell us the megawatts, the site and the phase plan. We will review power, cooling, entitlements and schedule with you before the building budget is set.
FAQ
Send the property, the building type and the schedule. We review the scope, the approvals and the trade packages and explain how the project would be sequenced.