Planning department issues data center permit. By Gordon Anderson | [email protected] The Sanford-Lee County Planning Department has issued a permit for construction of a data center on Lower Moncure Road, The Rant has learned. The permit, dated September 25, allows for the construction of a more than 300,000 square foot data center at 4015 Lower Moncure Road. It is valid until March 24, 2027. Virginia-based PointOne announced the 90 megawatt data center project on June 8, in conjunction with developer Helix Ventures. The building will sit on 56 acres and be owned and operated when complete by Dallas-based CyrusOne. CyrusOne operates more than 60 data centers worldwide. The permit lists the value of the structure at $185,388,791. Kelsey Fehr, vice president of strategic operations and stakeholder relations for PointOne, said that number "represents that capital investment for the building structure alone" without any equipment. She said CyrusOne's capital investment in related equipment like chillers, generators, and sound attenuation brings the total value of that part of the project to roughly $900 million. When IT equipment from customers is included, the project's total value is roughly $3.6 billion, Fehr said. Regarding the issuance of the construction permit, Fehr told The Rant "PointOne is committed to bringing a responsible, thoughtfully designed data center to Lee County in partnership with CyrusOne. As the project moves forward, we are focused on engaging local vendors and contractors where possible, helping ensure that more of the investment and economic activity generated by the development stays within the community. Construction is expected to begin this fall, marking an important milestone in bringing this project to life. As development progresses, we look forward to creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and generating broader economic opportunities in the area. We are committed to being a responsible community partner and believe this project can make a positive, lasting contribution to the Lee County community while delivering the infrastructure needed for the future." The proposal came after months of speculation and even uproar in Lee County about data centers. The issue spilled into public discourse toward the end of 2025, when it was reported that a company called Deep River Data was interested in accessing natural gas from an old test well in order to power an AI data operation. Concerns about fracking, as well as potential adverse impacts from that project - which was never officially proposed or submitted for approvals - led local leaders to adopt a rule set governing data centers in Sanford and Lee County. Those rules, among other things, banned fracking-associated data centers. PointOne's announcement on June 8 was followed by still more protest of a data center in the area. Citizens packed multiple meetings of the Lee County Board of Commissioners over the summer, using the public comment period to demand a data center moratorium as well as the addition of stricter data center provisions - most prominently provisions regulating noise - to the county's Unified Development Ordinance. The board has so far declined to take up the issue, and chair Samantha Martin reiterated to The Rant earlier in September that the project's fate would be decided by administrative review. The permit indicates the contractor for the project will be Hitt Contracting of Falls Church, Virginia. The cost of the permit was $76,591.20. Fehr told The Rant in June that the project is considered "phase one" of the development, which would total 430 acres. The remainder of the development hasn't been planned, she said, and end users and use types are currently unknown other than they would be light industrial uses. Data centers are typically warehouse-type structures that are home to computer servers powering a variety of operations like cloud storage, website hosting, streaming platforms, financial transactions, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence operations. The clients CyrusOne would serve haven't been publicly announced. Economic developers expect the building itself to generate at least $1 million in new tax revenue locally, plus whatever revenue comes from the servers and equipment the building contains. Katy Hancock, CyrusOne's vice president of community affairs, said the company has more than 25 years of experience in the data center industry and is bringing that to Lee County "as we move forward in accordance with county requirements." "Phase I represents more than $900 million in investment, bringing significant new taxable value to Lee County while incorporating modern systems and safeguards to manage sound, water use, power infrastructure, and impacts on surrounding properties," she said. "As construction moves forward, our focus remains on executing the project responsibly and ensuring this investment creates meaningful, lasting value for Lee County."

Top permits: Colovore plans $430M data center in Fort Worth. TRD reports on the top new permits in Texas for the week ending Sept. 28, 2026 Research by UPDATED 9/29/26 3pm New Construction: A new data center from Colovore is set to rise in Fort Worth to the tune of $430 million. The 156,500-square-foot data center will be built at 14700 Heritage Parkway. Construction is expected to begin in December and be completed by December 2029. Job filing number: TABS2027001701 New Construction: QTS Data Centers filed plans to build a data center project in Lancaster. The firm is building the 364,000-square-foot project at 1341 Sunrise Road. Construction on the $290 million data center is set to begin this September and conclude in December 2027. The two-story data center will have office as well as shell data space. Job filing number: TABS2027001648 New Construction: Fort Worth Independent School District is shelling out $76 million to build a new middle school. Polytechnic Pyramid Middle School is expected to be built between February 2027 and August 2028 at 1101 Nashville Avenue. The 148,000-square-foot school will have capacity for 1,200 students. Job filing number: TABS2027001686 Renovations: CyrusOne is dropping $257 million to build out its 83,000-square-foot data center at 9501 Asphalt Drive in Fort Worth. Construction is expected to begin this October. The DFW8 data center should be finished by October 2027. Job filing number: TABS2027001907 Renovations: The Galleria North Tower is getting ready for a 223,000-square-foot renovation across 16 stories. The renovations are expected to cost $57 million. Construction on the Galleria North Tower is set to begin in January 2027 and wrap up in mid-August 2027. Job filing number: TABS2027001956 Renovations: The City of Houston filed plans to renovate 196,000 square feet of 1600 Smith Street over three years, starting in November and running through July 2029. The $20 million project will renovate part of the building to be used for police headquarters. Job filing number: TABS2027001947 This story was corrected to reflect that Colovore's data center is expected to cost $430 million.

ShinyHunters hackers claim to have hit data center provider used by Microsoft and Meta. * ShinyHunters adds CyrusOne to its victim list, demanding $13m ransom * Claimed theft includes 12.9 million Salesforce records, 600GB SharePoint data, PII, contracts, and facility diagrams * Breach could enable physical intrusions and supply-chain attacks; CyrusOne has not commented or paid The infamous ShinyHunters ransomware crew has added CyrusOne, a major US data center operator, to its list of victims, claiming to have stolen a treasure trove of highly sensitive data which, if proven true, could turn this into a bonafide catastrophe for the company and its customers. Overall, ShinyHunters claims to have exfiltrated 12.9 million Salesforce records, more than 182,000 rows from the Salesforce Contacts object, more than 600 GB of SharePoint data, more than 8,300 employee records containing personally identifiable information (PII), executed contracts, master service agreements, NDAs, and service agreements, data center floor plans, electrical diagrams, access-control records and badge audits, physical key inventories, security policies, critical Environment Reliability Management documentation, and various passwords and credential artifacts. No samples have been posted just yet, but researchers don't see it as suspicious, but rather as a pressure tactic. Latest Videos FromTechRadar What makes this attack different. In exchange for deleting all of the stolen data, ShinyHunters is demanding $13 million from CyrusOne which, at this time, is not commenting on the claims, and is seemingly not interested in negotiations. "They are refusing to pay a $13 million demand. They have 24 hours left to engage with us. We hold 12.9 million Salesforce records," the attackers allegedly wrote. Ransomware groups steal sensitive corporate data all the time, but this incident has the potential to be among the most devastating data breaches ever. Some of the secrets that were nabbed cannot simply be changed: data center floor plans, electrical diagrams, access-control records, badge audits, physical key inventories, this kind of intelligence can be used for physical breaches. If criminals know how keys are assigned, how the data center is organized, where surveillance cameras are located, and how guards operate, it makes it easier to physically break it. "You can't patch a building," the researchers warned, noting that some of the things that can be changed, such as physical keys and access zones, still take months and "real money", they added, hinting at just how big the problem could be. CyrusOne runs some 50 facilities all across the United States and serves hundreds of companies and corporations. Some of its clients include Fortune 1000 companies, as well as big tech names such as Microsoft, Meta, Verizon, AT&T, IBM, and CME Group. Compounding the problem even further is the fact that ShinyHunters stole information about CyrusOne's customers, such as Meta, or Microsoft. Information about the locations of certain customers, the services they're paying for, the NDAs, service-level agreements, and contact information, can all be used for highly tailored, sophisticated phishing attacks that could turn this incident into an unprecedented third-party supply-chain attack. "Contracts, MSAs, and NDAs identify the tenants as a customer list overlaid on a building map, with pricing and SLAs attached," the researchers added. No reaction. To add insult to injury, ShinyHunters also seems to have stolen information about the company's power, cooling, and critical-environment reliability processes, which they could leverage to physically attack the servers, causing disruptions, outages, and possibly fires. The group first added CyrusOne to their site on August 20 2026, although at that moment, the name of the victim was redacted, the researchers said. Instead, ShinyHunters posted a warning, saying "Final warning - pay or leak". The company was given until August 24 to reach out which, it would seem, did not happen. Three days later, on August 23, ShinyHunters publicly named CyrusOne as their victim, and stated that they demanded $13 million for the files. Wilson’s Media LLC is now well past the deadline, and nothing's changed - the victim hasn't spoken out, and ShinyHunters did not leak the files. The best antivirus for all budgets Follow TechRadar on Google News and add Wilson’s Media LLC as a preferred source to get its expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. ShinyHunters adds CyrusOne to its victim list, demanding $13m ransom Claimed theft includes 12.9 million Salesforce records, 600GB SharePoint data, PII, contracts, and facility diagrams Breach could enable physical intrusions and supply-chain attacks; CyrusOne has not commented or paid The infamous ShinyHunters ransomware crew has added CyrusOne, a major US...