Why the Matrix data center matters
This is the biggest single private investment ever proposed in Hopkins County, and reasonable people in our community disagree about it. This page lays out the strongest version of both sides — the case for the project and the legitimate concerns about it — because you deserve better than a sales pitch or a scare campaign.
The project figures on this page are CyrusOne's own statements and estimates — made at its September 24, 2026 community meeting, in its June 11, 2026 meetings with community leaders, and on CyrusOne's Sulphur Springs project page — not city verifications or appraised values. City responses described as "under exploration" are exactly that: being studied in public, not adopted. As plans become documents, this page will cite the documents.
The case for, and the concerns
Each row pairs a potential benefit with the concern that pushes against it. Neither column is a strawman: these are the real arguments, stated the way their strongest advocates would state them.
A tax base measured in billions
CyrusOne has stated that it plans to develop the property in phases of three buildings each, and has estimated its portion of the project — buildings and infrastructure, not including power generation or tenant occupants — at $5 to $10 billion. For scale: the entire city's net taxable value today is roughly $1.8 billion, so even the low end of that range is nearly three times the taxable value of the whole city. And that figure leaves things out: the tenants' own property, use taxes on tenant equipment, and franchise taxes (or payments in lieu of them).
Does the benefit arrive as promised?
These are the developer's estimates, not certified appraisals. What the city actually nets, and when, depends on what gets built and on what schedule, how it appraises, and the terms of the incentive agreements that govern it. Until value lands on the certified tax roll, it's a projection. This page will track the actuals as they arrive.
Steady, well-paid jobs — and years of construction work
CyrusOne has estimated approximately 30 of its employees per building — about 90 per three-building phase, and hundreds at full build-out by its description — alongside hundreds of construction jobs over a multi-year build and a planned workforce development and scholarship program with local institutions.
How many jobs, really?
Data centers are capital-intensive, not labor-intensive. Thirty jobs per building is real, well-paid work — but it is not a factory with a thousand names on the payroll, and anyone selling this primarily as a jobs program is overselling it. The honest case for this project rests first on the tax base; the jobs are a benefit, not the headline.
Light demands on city utilities
CyrusOne states its buildings use modern closed-loop cooling systems that don't consume water after the initial fill — about 1,250 gallons per day per building in ordinary operation, mostly restrooms and humidification — less than half of what CyrusOne says a typical 50,000-square-foot grocery store uses in a day — with the initial fill trucked in rather than drawn from local supply. On electricity, the project plans to source its own power through on-site generation rather than drawing on the local grid, with CyrusOne stating it would fund any needed interconnection.
The open questions that deserve watching
The water and power figures are the company's own, and they describe normal operations. The biggest open item is the power plant itself: the project will source its own power, and detail is forthcoming about the location and phasing of that generation. Those details — siting, size, operation — matter to neighbors and to the whole community, and this page will link the documents when they're public.
A use suited to the land
A data center has a large, wide footprint — which makes it a better candidate for land that has been dug out and backfilled than most other industrial applications. This is reclaimed mine land, not farmland, with large continuous parcels and existing utility access. Few sites in Texas fit this use as naturally; few uses fit this site as naturally.
Noise, lights, and neighbors
A 24/7 industrial campus changes its surroundings, and the people nearest it bear that change. CyrusOne has said sound will be measured and attenuated based on levels at the property line, lighting will be minimal — security needs only, modern downward-directed LED, no uplighting — and one advantage of the large wooded property is leaving wide wooded sound and light buffers along the property lines. Commitments like these count when they're written into enforceable standards, and that's what residents should expect.
A seat at the table
Because the city owns the land, it holds leverage no ordinary host community gets: zoning, development standards, utility agreements, and contracts the council votes on in public. If this were a private-to-private land sale, the community would be a spectator. Here, it's a party to the deal.
Betting on one industry
Technology shifts. Cooling methods, chip efficiency, and demand cycles could all change the economics of data centers over the decades this project spans. That risk is real — and it's why the city is investigating establishing a permanent fund or foundation, similar to what Fort Worth has done, to hedge against future technology changes or shifts in industry trends. That idea is proposed for discussion at the December 2026 council meeting.
One principle I hold
Protecting residents' property rights is one of a city's core functions — and that includes protecting a resident from their neighbor. At up to approximately 1,677 acres, this project would be the biggest neighbor anyone near the site has ever had. If it imposes real losses on the surrounding residents — whether they live inside the city limits or not — I believe that burden should not be left sitting on them: the city and CyrusOne should address it, up to and including compensating affected owners for their loss or purchasing their property at a premium. That is my view as one member of the council, not adopted city policy. But it is the standard I will apply when these questions come to a vote.
What could the revenue do?
New tax base matters only because of what it lets the community do. The city is currently exploring how it might use revenue beyond what current services require — and it is being measured in its approach: it will not spend revenue it has not received. Ideas under exploration include:
Roads & paving
Expanded capital road construction and an expanded summer paving program.
Rate & tax relief
Eliminating the street maintenance fee on water bills, property tax relief, water bill relief, and electric bill relief.
Public safety & staff
Expanded police and fire protection, and city employee retention efforts.
Community amenities
A new animal shelter, a city pool, and expanded parks.
This is not an exhaustive list — it's a work in progress, being discussed in public as it develops. The permanent fund idea and the city pool are proposed for discussion at the December 2026 council meeting, which, like every council meeting, is open to you.
If you live outside the city limits
Here's something a city council member should say plainly: the city has no authority over residents who live outside the city limits. City ordinances don't reach you, city taxes aren't levied on you, and city elections aren't yours to vote in — which also means the City Council is not your representative body on this project, however close you live to it. This page, like this site, focuses on what the city controls. But the project touches several other governments, each with its own elected board, its own taxing authority, and its own decisions to make:
Hopkins County
The Commissioners Court governs the unincorporated areas around the site and makes the county's own decisions about its taxes and any county role in the project.
Hopkins County Hospital District
A separate taxing entity with its own elected board, making its own decisions about its tax treatment of the project.
Sulphur Springs ISD
Governed by its own elected board of trustees. School taxes are not abated, so new taxable value flows to the district under state school-finance law.
Como-Pickton CISD
Also governed by its own elected board — and relevant here because district lines, not city limits, determine which schools the project's value supports.
Initiatives related to this project will be taken up by those bodies on their own schedules, at their own public meetings, under their own rules. If you live outside the city limits, those boards are where your vote and your voice carry direct weight — and their meetings are open to the public, just like ours.
How this page is written
- Every figure gets a sourceNumbers on this page are attributed to who said them — CyrusOne's public statements and materials, city council and community meeting discussions, and public documents — and when adopted agreements exist, this page will cite them over anyone's estimates.
- The concerns get their best advocateThe "concern" column is written as its strongest proponents would write it, not as a softball for the other side to knock down.
- Updates will be datedAs the project evolves, changes to this page will say what changed and when.
Start with the background
If you haven't yet, read the Thermo site & Matrix Reserve first — it covers what the site is, the master plan vision for it, and where the data center fits inside it. The company's own materials are at CyrusOne's Sulphur Springs page. And when you've read both sides above, make yourself heard.