Project Blue data center campus near the Pima County Fairgrounds
Also called: Project Blue
Beale Infrastructure is building a large data center campus on 290 acres southeast of Tucson, near the county fairgrounds. Up to 10 buildings could go there, cooled with air instead of water. Tucson Electric Power will supply the power, but the Attorney General is challenging that deal in court.
Where things stand: Construction started in April 2026 on county land the developer bought in December 2025. The state Attorney General is fighting the power deal in court.
🕒 Latest update (April 2026): Construction started on the site.
What we know
- 📍 Where290 acres west of Houghton Road, just north of the Pima County Fairgrounds (11300 S. Houghton Rd.), southeast of Tucson. Map point is the fairgrounds address, next to the site., Unincorporated Pima County, Pima County
- 🏢 CompanyBeale Infrastructure
- 👤 Built forunknown (news reports have called it Amazon-linked; the county says the user is kept secret under an NDA)
- 🌳 Size290 acres
- ⚡ Power it needs286 megawatts (about as much as 228,800 homes)
- 🔌 Where the power comes fromTucson Electric Power (TEP). State regulators approved a special power deal for up to 286 megawatts by 2028, with an option for 64 more.
- ❄️ Coolingair cooling with a closed-loop system (no water for cooling), after the first water-cooled plan was dropped
- 💵 Cost$3.6 billion
- 👷 Jobs promised180
- 🤐 Secret deal (NDA)Yes. Pima County says it signed a secret deal (NDA) with the developer, so the end user's name is not public.
❓ Still unanswered
Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?
- Which company will use the data center? (The county signed a secret deal, an NDA.) 🙋 I'll find out
- How much electricity will the full campus use when all 10 buildings are built? 🙋 I'll find out
- How many diesel backup generators will the site have? 🙋 I'll find out
- How will the court rule on the Attorney General's appeal of the power deal? 🙋 I'll find out
- How much water will the site use each day for non-cooling uses? 🙋 I'll find out
What happened so far
- June 17, 2025Pima County supervisors approved the rezoning and the sale of county land to the developer.
- Aug 2025Tucson City Council rejected the project's plan to join the city and use city water.
- Aug 25, 2025TEP asked state regulators to approve a power deal for the data center.
- Sept 2025Developer said it would go ahead in the county with air cooling instead of water.
- Dec 3, 2025Arizona Corporation Commission approved the TEP power deal 4-1.
- Dec 24, 2025Developer closed on buying the land from Pima County.
- Dec 30, 2025The Attorney General, the City of Tucson and others asked regulators to rehear the power deal.
- 2026After regulators refused a rehearing, the Attorney General appealed the power deal in court.
- April 2026Construction started on the site.
Local votes and rules
⏸️ Pause on new data centers
County supervisors voted 3-2 to pause new data centers in unincorporated Pima County for 120 days, with a possible extension. It covers projects that had not yet applied for permits, so Project Blue and Project Gravel are not affected. The county is writing new zoning rules meanwhile.
⚖️ Court case
The No Desert Data Center Coalition sued Pima County in January 2026, saying the public notice for the Project Blue rezoning hid what it was for, which they said broke the open meeting law. A judge threw out the case on April 13, 2026, ruling the county did not break the law.
✋ Turned down
City council voted unanimously to stop all work on Project Blue and drop the plan to bring the 290-acre site into the city. The project later moved ahead outside city limits.
✅ Approved
County supervisors approved the rezoning and the sale of county land for Project Blue, a large data center near the Pima County Fairgrounds.
An aerial photo of the area.
Where this comes from
- Project Blue FAQ · Pima County · 2026
- Construction begins on first hyper-scale data center in Pima County · KOLD News 13 · April 25, 2026
- Tucson rejects Amazon-linked data center amid water, energy concerns · AZFamily · Aug 9, 2025
- Developer plans to revive Project Blue data center in Pima County with new utility deal · KJZZ · Sept 19, 2025
- Project Blue may not be dead as TEP files plan with ACC · KOLD News 13 · Aug 27, 2025
- ACC approves TEP energy supply agreement, ensures customer protections from costs related to data center project · Arizona Corporation Commission · Dec 5, 2025
- Arizona Attorney General challenges OK of TEP energy deal for Project Blue · KGUN 9 · Dec 2025
- Marana and Project Blue data center updates · Arizona Luminaria · Jan 8, 2026
- AG Kris Mayes appeals energy agreement between TEP and Project Blue developers · AZPM · 2026
- Census geocoder: Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Rd. · U.S. Census Bureau · Oct 7, 2026
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