Thursday, October 1, 2026
Sailfish, a Florida-based development company, has proposed a large-scale data center campus in Hood County as part of a growing push to meet rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.
The company was founded three years ago by Ryan Hughes, a former real estate private equity professional who previously specialized in industrial warehouse development. Hughes said he launched Sailfish after recognizing that traditional data center hubs, particularly in Northern Virginia, were running out of land and power capacity.
“The growth of AI made it obvious that data centers would become essential,” Hughes said. “Northern Virginia is running out of space, so development is moving into new regions.”
The proposed Comanche Circle campus would span about 2,100 acres — about 3.3 square miles, or nearly 1,600 football fields — making it more than twice the size of Central Park in New York City.
Located in Hood County, near Tolar, but close to the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Somervell County, the site offers direct access to major high-voltage transmission lines that carry electricity across the region. Utility provider Oncor Electric Delivery has also selected the area for a planned 765-kilovolt switching station, one of the largest types of electrical infrastructure used in the United States.
Hughes said those factors make the area particularly attractive for large-scale technology infrastructure.
“A data center is really just a building with computers in it,” Hughes said. “It’s a sturdy building because the equipment inside is expensive, but all it does is host servers that support things like streaming services, websites and cloud storage.”
Engineers studying the Comanche Circle property evaluated the area’s topography, wetlands, drainage patterns and flood zones to avoid natural waterways and minimize environmental disruption, he noted.
One of the most frequently raised concerns from Hood County residents has been water use. Hughes said the facility’s cooling system would rely on a closed-loop design that recycles most of its water.
“At full buildout, the data centers themselves are expected to use about 50,000 gallons of water per day,” Hughes said. “Even if you assume 75,000 gallons, that’s still very small for a site that’s more than 2,000 acres.”
To put this in perspective, 50,000 gallons per day (GPD) spread across 2,101 acres equates to about 24 GPD per acre at Comanche Circle. By comparison, irrigation systems at large golf courses can use similar or greater amounts of water in a single day, particularly during the summer months. For example, just last year the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District approved a well permit for Tiger Woods’ 120-acre Bluejack Ranch golf club, allowing it to use approximately 450,000 GPD for irrigation alone.
In total volume, that means the golf course is permitted to use about nine times more water than what Comanche Circle’s data centers are projected to consume. When viewed on a per-acre basis, Bluejack Ranch is approved for about 3,750 GPD per acre, compared to just 24 GPD per acre at Comanche Circle
Hughes said the company initially attempted to repurpose existing surface water rights to reduce groundwater use by agreeing to a Memorandum of Understanding for a future annexation of the development into Somervell County Water District.
“We were not going to use a single drop of water that was allocated to SCWD ratepayers,” Hughes said. “We were going to bring our own surface water into the SCWD system and fund all the infrastructure to deliver it.”
According to Hughes, the agreement later was withdrawn after public opposition.
“The irony is we tried to structure a deal so we wouldn’t rely on groundwater,” he said. “When the deal was canceled, it left groundwater as the only available option for the project.”
Sailfish also has explored the possibility of using treated wastewater, known as effluent, from nearby municipalities as an additional alternative water source. That water typically is cleaned to environmental standards before being released into waterways.
In addition to water concerns, some residents have questioned if large data centers could strain Texas’ power grid. Hughes said the company is evaluating the possibility of building on-site natural gas generation, which could potentially supply excess electricity back to the grid.
“In an effort to make sure we’re adding power to the grid instead of taking power from it, we’ve looked at on-site generation,” Hughes said.
State regulations also would require data centers to disconnect from the grid during major emergencies if necessary to prioritize power for homes, hospitals and critical services.
Despite the ongoing debate surrounding the project, Hughes said many public concerns stem from confusion about what data centers actually do.
“People hear the words ‘data center’ and think something dangerous is happening,” Hughes said. “But in reality, it’s the same infrastructure that supports almost everything people do online.”
Hughes said Sailfish plans to continue working with local officials and community members as discussions about the project move forward.
“With the Comanche Circle project, we’re trying to bring the infrastructure needed for the future of technology. At the same time, we want to do it responsibly and be transparent with the community.” He said.
“When everything calms down and construction starts, we hope Somervell County Water District will reconsider their decision to renege on our Memorandum of Understanding as that will be the ideal outcome for both groundwater conservation and Somervell County Water District ratepayers,” Hughes said.
