TEMPLE, TEXAS — Rowan Digital Infrastructure, a Denver-based data center owner-operator backed by Blackstone (NYSE: BX), has received $3 billion in construction financing for a new, 700-acre hyperscale campus in the Central Texas city of Temple. The facility could account for the creation of approximately 600 construction jobs and up to 40 permanent jobs. Rowan broke ground on the first phase of the 300-megawatt (MW) project earlier this year and expects construction to last 12 to 18 months. The names of the debt providers were not disclosed, but local media outlet KDH News reports that the deal represents “the largest financing transaction in the company’s history” since its founding in late 2020. According to the Temple Daily Telegram, the campus is located at 1855 Bob White Road on the city’s east side and has a Phase I price tag of $700 million. The local publication also reports that the site will not require the development of additional electrical infrastructure and that the facility will have a water recirculation system that will reduce stress on the regional water supply. “Securing this financing is a major moment for Rowan and reflects a significant level of trust from the industry’s largest capital providers,” says …
Development
CHICAGO — Clayco, CRG, The Prime Group Inc. and TP Management Co. (TPM) have unveiled plans to complete a $25 million renovation of the historic Jewelers Building at 35 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago. The project will introduce a fine dining restaurant, lobby and rooftop bars, expanded fitness and wellness amenities and a reimagined conference, event and coworking space to the office property. Planned renovations will honor the building’s Beaux-Arts character. Roanoke Hospitality Group, an affiliate of The Prime Group, will operate and manage the new food-and-beverage offerings, which will be open to the public. Construction will begin in fall 2026, with the new restaurant and bar concepts slated to open in 2027. TPM is an investor in the project and will continue to participate in the ongoing management and long-term enhancement of the asset while cording capital support for future improvement and repositioning initiatives. Designed by Joachim Giaver and Frederick Dinkelberg, the Jewelers Building is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Michigan-Wacker Historic District. Upon completion in 1927, the 40-story building was the world’s tallest outside of New York City. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 1994.
DECORAH, IOWA — Opus has completed the Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Wellness at Luther College in Decorah, a city in northeast Iowa. Built in 1963, Luther’s 200,000-square-foot Regents Center had long housed the Luther Norse athletic teams. The facility required both a renovation and a 15,787-square-foot expansion. An historic $10 million gift from Michael and Nicole Gerdin and the Gerdin Charitable Foundation helped make the project possible. Work on the Gerdin Fieldhouse began in August 2024 and included the construction of a new 5,787-square-foot public lobby on the property’s north end that includes a new concession stand, restrooms and a Hall of Fame space. Opus also built a new 10,200-square-foot wrestling training complex and completed extensive renovations to the existing basketball and volleyball arena. Athlete training and rehab facilities, locker rooms and meeting and study spaces for all 21 Norse athletic teams were also updated. Opus served as design-builder and worked in partnership with RDG Planning & Design.
CORRIGAN, TEXAS — RoyOMartin, a provider of plywoods, timbers and boards, is underway on $115 million manufacturing expansion project in Corrigan, about 100 miles northeast of Houston. The project involves the construction of a 370,400-square-foot facility that will complement RoyOMartin’s existing, 407,125-square-foot plant. The new facility is expected to account for the creation of about 120 new jobs and to increase RoyOMartin’s total production capacity across its 150-acre campus by 70 percent.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — A partnership between SGI Ventures and the Austin Housing Finance Corp. has opened The Roz, a $24.3 million affordable housing complex on the city’s south side. The four-story building houses 100 units that are reserved for households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income, with select units earmarked for formerly homeless individuals. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas provided a $2 million grant as part of the financing package for The Roz.
ARLINGTON, VA. — JBG Smith and general contractor Davis Construction have begun the conversion of 2200 Crystal Drive, an 11-story office building in Arlington spanning 315,000 square feet. Built in 1968 and renovated in 2006, the office building is situated in National Landing, a neighborhood in metropolitan Washington, D.C., that is anchored by Amazon’s HQ2 office. JBG Smith, along with joint venture equity partner Declaration Partners, is repositioning the office building into a 195-unit multifamily community. BNY is providing an undisclosed amount of construction financing for the project. JBG Smith recently sold an adjacent office building, 2100 Crystal Drive, that is being converted to a dual-brand hotel. Additionally, the Arlington County Board recently approved JBG Smith’s conversion of two more office buildings, 1800 and 1901 South Bell Street, into more than 300 residential units.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — A joint venture between LV Collective and Peninsula Investments has broken ground on Rambler Northgate, a 922-bed student housing project located near Texas A&M University in College Station. The building will rise 24 stories and offer 342 units in one-, two, three-, four-, five- and six-bedroom configurations with bed-to-bath parity. Shared amenities will include a pool with multiple hot tubs; coworking space with private study rooms; a fitness center with a yoga studio, sauna and cold plunge; and a multi-sport simulator and jumbotron. UMB is providing construction financing for the project. The development team includes Oz Architecture, JE Dunn, Variant Collaborative and Site Design Group. Completion is slated for 2028.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Portman has announced plans for Savona Food Works, a 30,000-square-foot food hall that will anchor the company’s Savona Mill adaptive reuse project in Charlotte’s West End district. Veteran food hall operator Robert Montwaid will lead the dining installation, which will offer 25 food stalls, a full-service restaurant and bar, coffee shop, flower market and rooftop bar. Montwaid’s previous ventures include leading Gansevoort Market in New York City’s Meatpacking District and Chattahoochee Food Works in Atlanta’s West Midtown neighborhood. Savona Food Works will be situated in the “Weave building,” which dates back to the 1900s, and will debut in 2027. Other components of the 27-acre mixed-use district include 200,000 square feet of creative office space and 319 apartments, with more multifamily units expected in the next phase of development. Savona Mill is situated adjacent to the Stewart Creek Greenway, a pedestrian trail that connects to the LYNX Light Rail and Blue Line Rail Trail.
MidPen, EPACANDO Open 136-Unit Affordable Housing Community in East Palo Alto, California
by Amy Works
EAST PALO ALTO, CALIF. — MidPen Housing and the East Palo Alto Community Alliance Neighborhood Organization (EPACANDO) have opened Colibri Commons, a 136-unit affordable housing community at 965 Weeks St. in East Palo Alto. The property’s 136 studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units are reserved for tenants earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income. Community amenities include a community room, an outdoor play area and free onsite services such as nutrition classes, adult education and after-school programming. MidPen Property Management is the property manager. Financing for Colibri Commons was provided through multiple public and private sources. The project team included David Baker Architects and Blach Construction.
NEW FLORENCE, MO. — Google has unveiled plans to invest $15 billion in building infrastructure in New Florence, about 75 miles west of St. Louis. The data center project will create thousands of construction jobs over the build period and hundreds of direct operational roles once the facility is up and running. Google is collaborating with the Construction Laborers and Contractors Joint Training Fund of Eastern Missouri to support the Laborers and Contractors Training Center. The project will enable the center to train more than 2,300 construction laborers, including 1,500 apprentices, over the next two years. In accordance with Missouri’s consumer protections in Senate Bill 4, which Gov. Kehoe signed into law in 2025, Google will continue to pay for 100 percent of the power the data center uses and any new infrastructure costs that are directly driven by its operations. To date, Google has contracted to bring more than one gigawatt of new generation capacity to Missouri, and through its partnership with Ameren, the company is supporting the development of more than 500 megawatts of additional capacity. To further address energy affordability, Google has also announced a $20 million Energy Impact Fund to support programs that drive down monthly …