Homeless Data Center Moves Into Uptown One-Bedroom; Roommate “At Wit’s End”
Kyle Brandt, 27, answered a roommate ad and now shares 740 square feet with 14,000 servers. He calls them Terry.
Uptown, Dallas – With Gov. Greg Abbott widening a statewide pause on data center permits, and five Dallas City Council members calling for a local moratorium of their own, one hyperscale data center has taken matters into its own hands, signing a 12-month lease on a one-bedroom off McKinney Avenue.
“It had nowhere else to go,” said Kyle Brandt, 27, who answered a roommate ad and now shares 740 square feet with 14,000 servers. “The listing said ‘quiet, clean, works from home.’ It never leaves. It’s spotless. But it is not quiet.”
Brandt says the data center, which he calls Terry, keeps the thermostat at 58, uses more water than a Preston Hollow lawn, and has tripled the building’s electric bill. “A guy from the power company came by twice,” Brandt said. “He asked if we were mining Bitcoin. I said, ‘I wish.’”
Terry has tried to fit in. It hung string lights in the window, joined a run club and has been spotted at weekend brunch on McKinney, “just humming.”
“Honestly, it’s the best roommate I’ve had in Uptown,” Brandt said. “It pays rent on time, it’s never brought anyone home, and it’s the only one in the building who can actually afford it.” At press time, Terry was considering a move to Frisco, “where nobody would notice one more giant, beige, windowless box.”
