Councilman Keely Holding Data Center Public Meeting 12-29

Council Member Patrick Keely will hold a Data Center Development Community Meeting on Monday, December 29, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Downtown Library in the Brooks & Bates Room.  The subject is the proposed Skybox Data Center on Highway 67 just north of city limits.  Council approved the sale of 350 acres of city owned land to Skybox in March 2025.  

Issues are noise pollution, water use, appropriate zoning, need for city services while residing outside city limits, traffic safety and electrical power use for the proposed 1.5 million square foot development distributed across six buildings (each of which is four stories high).

A flyer for this public meeting states the item will be voted on at Council's next meeting on January 13, 2026.  

Mayor Tom Thompson has been circumspect in his communications regarding the proposed data center, calling local information inaccurate without providing any meaningful information on the project or parameters Council plans to use to balance citizen needs with data center desires.  

The City has chosen thus far to prioritize Skybox's need for privacy regarding proprietary information and trade secret claims over sharing information with the public (based on City's response to my 12-8-25 public information request).  

Developers are usually not the end user of any project.  West Texas has been through a number of boom and bust cycles.  When projects go underwater, the owner hands the keys over to the bankers (the entity that provided the financing).  One giant financial juggernaut already compared data centers to shale.  

Enough communities have been through the data center development process for San Angelo's City Council to use an open, up front process where citizens' needs are clearly prioritized.  A Chamber video and an interview with the Mayor discounting social media information do not meet that standard.

Council may rise to the occasion on January 13, 2026 but citizens should be prepared to nudge them if they don't.  Attending Councilman Keely's community meeting on the topic tomorrow night is a great start for those who can attend.  

Update:  Baxtel.com states:

Skybox Datacenters is a joint venture between Rugen Street Capital and Bandera Ventures.

Concho Observer reported on an expert's assessment of Skybox's plans.   It's hard to believe anyone can assess the situation given what little information has been released to date.  The expert is from a think tank whose board is loaded with people from vested TechGod interests, Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Patreon, & Paladin Capital.  The positive "lack of abatement ask" is simply due to the project's location being outside city limits. (see Update 1-5-26 for more accurate information)

ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on the community meeting.  It indicates Skybox is yet to purchase the land for any data center development.  

Note:  This is also posted on PEUReport, my private equity oriented blog.  The two are overlapping more and more.

Update 12-30-25:  Concho Valley Homepage reported on the meeting.  Concho Observer also ran a piece on the meeting.

Update 1-5-26:  The City annexed the land on the same date it agreed to sell the land to Skybox Data Centers, 3-4-25.  It was not discussed during the meeting, simply passed as part of the consent agenda for that meeting.  

Data Center Information Absent from COSA Stocking

On 12-8-25 I submitted the following public information request (PIR) to the City of San Angelo:

Please provide documents, communications, emails and texts relative to the City of San Angelo's economic development arrangement with Skybox Data Centers or whichever legal entity is developing the data center on former city land within the City Farm area, just outside city limits to the northeast of town. This information could include a projected timeline, the city's plans to annex the land or develop a special arrangement where the city provides services (police, fire, water, etc.) to an entity not within city limits, specific financial or tax incentives, and any other inducements, monetary or in-kind services. The Development Corporation website mentions the project with its statement: "Facilitated data center site development tied to renewable energy access." My request is relative to this specific City of San Angelo effort.

The city's reply was a letter to the Texas Attorney General requesting to withhold the requested information for a number of reasons which include:

1.  Attorney-Client Privilege

2.  Confidentiality of Certain Economic Development Information

3.  Third Party Vendors Implicated in Request 

4.  Information Requested Involves Privacy or Property Interests of a Third Party

5.  Confidentiality of Trade Secrets and Certain Commercial or Financial Information

Vice President of Economic Development for the Chamber of Commerce Michael Looney released a podcast on data center development on 12-15-25.  (One week after my request)

Mayor Tom Thompson spoke with Concho Valley Homepage about data center development on 12-22-25.  (Two weeks after my PIR.)

He said most information about data center development has "been inaccurate."  Yet, the City of San Angelo is steamrolling efforts to get accurate information.  

The City has a requirement for third party vendors to comply with public information law.  It's in their standard contract language.  

Michael Looney said in his recent podcast that private equity is very interested in San Angelo and that our community could be like Austin in the 1980's.  He didn't say that private equity is loathe to share the most basic information, be it the name of the contracting entity, who is involved in the project and standard financial information.  

We'll see what comes before the Development Corporation or City Council regarding data center development, if anything.   Big money behind such projects is very secretive.

Update 12-29-25:  

Council Member Patrick Keely will hold a Data Center Development Community Meeting on Monday, December 29, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Downtown Library in the Brooks & Bates Room. The subject is the proposed Skybox Data Center on Highway 67 just north of city limits. Council approved the sale of 350 acres of city owned land to Skybox in March 2025. 

Issues are noise pollution, water use, appropriate zoning, need for city services while residing outside city limits, traffic safety and electrical power use for the proposed 1.5 million square foot development distributed across six buildings (each of which is four stories high). 

A flyer for this public meeting states the item will be voted on at Council's next meeting on January 13, 2026.

ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on the community meeting.  It indicates Skybox is yet to purchase the land for any data center development.   

Update 12-30-25:  Concho Valley Homepage reported on the meeting.  Concho Observer also ran a piece on the meeting.

Update 1-5-26:  The City of San Angelo annexed the land is agreed to sell to Skybox Data Centers on 3-4-25, the same day Council approved the land sale.  This information came from a public information request.  The item was approved as part of the consent agenda and not discussed during the meeting.

Newsflash: City Promotes Gaddy

The City of San Angelo announced a new Economic Development Executive Director.  It is the current Assistant Finance Director Ryan Gaddy.  He replaces Assistant City Manager Michael Dane, who acted as in that role since Guy Andrews surprise retired in August 2022.  Dane will retire from the City on January 2, 2026.

Gaddy's appointment speaks to the current stance of the Development Corporation, creating financial packages for new employers (regardless of how few actual jobs are provided on a long term basis).  Council approved an 85% tax abatement for three years for Peregrine Energy's Project Zeppelin.  The City would receive $351,000 in taxes over years 1-3, while Peregrine gets a $2.4 million tax break.  

The Development Corporation under his leadership "facilitated data center site development tied to renewable energy access."  And none of that has come before City Council to date.  

It's unclear which Texas data centers will have the required power to operate.  CNBC reported:

Cheap land and cheap energy are combining to attract a flood of data center developers to the state. The potential demand is so vast that it will be impossible to meet by the end of the decade, energy experts say.

Quote worth noting from the story: 

“We know it’s not all real. The question is how much is real.”

Hopefully, City Council and Executive Director Gaddy won't give away the store to Skybox or its major customers, AI or otherwise.  One might expect Council to come up with some parameters for such development.  

Surely Skybox needs access to city water, fire and police services.  Providing those for an entity outside city limits is doable.  Pricing that at the margin is asking Skybox to pay the incremental costs for adding that new level of service.  Add massive tax breaks, like Project Zeppelin's, and the city may not achieve that shift from residential dominated tax collections to majority corporate contributed.  

It remains to be seen what subsidies the city plans to provide Skybox.  Michael Dane's retirement letter to the City did not mention future plans and it may just be fishing area streams and lakes.  Or he could be fishing for city subsidies on behalf of an economic development target company or two.

Dane can lever his public service experience on behalf of current or future private sector efforts.  Former Assistant City Manager Elizabeth Grindstaff did just that with her work for Texas Pacifico Railroad and then Texas Central Partners, a developer of a high speed rail project between Houston and Dallas.  Grindstaff is currently a client services leader with engineering firm Freese & Nichols.  

The hiring finally gave the Development Corporation news it can post to its website.  I took the liberty of mocking up such a piece and it's the lead image for this article.  Hopefully, it's an improvement from the prior page (AI generated?).

Another new player is in place.  Stay tuned for future developments on the economic front.  

Update 12-16-25:  San Angelo economic developers told bitcoin miners "no" twice.  They did not say it was the Lancium crew which turned into Stargate's Giant AI facility.  They did so in a podcast which can be viewed below:

Update 12-20-25:  The Real Deal reported:

Bolt Data & Energy announced it raised $150 million in capital and struck a partnership with Texas Pacific Land Corporation, which is investing another $50 million into the venture, according to a joint press release Wednesday. The tie-up positions Bolt Data to develop large-scale data centers on Texas Pacific’s sprawling West Texas holdings, as demand for energy-hungry AI computers accelerates, Bloomberg reported.

Update 12-24-25:  City of San Angelo officials spoke with Concho Valley Homepage regarding possible data centers. 

Update 12-29-25:  

Council Member Patrick Keely will hold a Data Center Development Community Meeting on Monday, December 29, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Downtown Library in the Brooks & Bates Room. The subject is the proposed Skybox Data Center on Highway 67 just north of city limits. Council approved the sale of 350 acres of city owned land to Skybox in March 2025. 

Issues are noise pollution, water use, appropriate zoning, need for city services while residing outside city limits, traffic safety and electrical power use for the proposed 1.5 million square foot development distributed across six buildings (each of which is four stories high). 

A flyer for this public meeting states the item will be voted on at Council's next meeting on January 13, 2026.

ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on the community meeting.  It indicates Skybox is yet to purchase the land for any data center development.  

 

Dane's Leaving Punctuates Council Meeting

The accolades rolled in from City Council and City Manager Daniel Valenzuela for the retiring Assistant City Manager Michael Dane.  The compliments came after Council returned from Closed/Executive Session.  Daniel noted this was Dane's last City Council meeting.  

Mayor Tom Thompson called Dane "a God send."  Councilman Tommy Hiebert noted Dane's creative financial mind.  

Dane created and stoked multiple pots of money throughout city government.  His going away should have shown city fund balances over the last decade.  Their number and size grew significantly.

One of those unspent pots is $2 million for Animal Shelter renovations, originally approved by Council in February 2023.  Yes, it's nearing three years since staff cited the urgent need for facility improvements/updates.  Fortunately, with professional Shelter management a better plan is underway, one that has a chance of actually happening.

By not spending the borrowing, the City had the opportunity to earn interest on those funds.  In 2025 the city earned so much interest on unspent financing that it owed $1.5 million to the IRS.

Dane leaves the City but plans to remain in San Angelo.  What opportunities might arise for the former interim Economic Development Executive Director, a role he held since September 2022?  

Skybox Data Centers' planned AI facility on the northeast side of town sits on former city land.  Dane has been facilitating that development from the city and development corporation side.  Might he switch and facilitate from the private sector/AI side?  

Who knows, the man may just relax and enjoy his retirement.  Time will tell...

Update 12-13-25:  The new Economic Development Director is the current Assistant Finance Director Ryan Gaddy.  That speaks to the current stance of the Development Corporation, creating financial packages for new employers (regardless of how few actual jobs are provided).

CNBC reported:

Cheap land and cheap energy are combining to attract a flood of data center developers to the state. The potential demand is so vast that it will be impossible to meet by the end of the decade, energy experts say.

Quote worth noting: 

“We know it’s not all real. The question is how much is real.”

Update 12-20-25:  The Real Deal reported:

Bolt Data & Energy announced it raised $150 million in capital and struck a partnership with Texas Pacific Land Corporation, which is investing another $50 million into the venture, according to a joint press release Wednesday. The tie-up positions Bolt Data to develop large-scale data centers on Texas Pacific’s sprawling West Texas holdings, as demand for energy-hungry AI computers accelerates, Bloomberg reported.

 Update 12-29-25:  

Council Member Patrick Keely will hold a Data Center Development Community Meeting on Monday, December 29, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Downtown Library in the Brooks & Bates Room. The subject is the proposed Skybox Data Center on Highway 67 just north of city limits. Council approved the sale of 350 acres of city owned land to Skybox in March 2025. 

Issues are noise pollution, water use, appropriate zoning, need for city services while residing outside city limits, traffic safety and electrical power use for the proposed 1.5 million square foot development distributed across six buildings (each of which is four stories high). 

A flyer for this public meeting states the item will be voted on at Council's next meeting on January 13, 2026.