Cawley Partners data center, Ferris, Texas

Cawley Partners, a Dallas real estate firm, plans data centers and housing on South Creek Ranch, a 5,200-acre former cattle ranch it bought near Ferris, in both Ellis and Dallas counties about 20 miles south of Dallas. The firm closed on the land in late April 2025 and said development on the ranch's northern 2,000 acres, planned as a network of "digital commerce parks," would start that year, with the first buildings done in two or three years.

Cawley has not released the size or number of data centers planned, and the company has said nothing more publicly about the project since that spring 2025 announcement. "The attributes of I-45, the future Loop Nine and the infrastructure the City of Ferris has, will help us develop a commercial park right away," said Tim Keith, who runs Cawley's land and digital commerce team.

Ferris City Manager Brooks Williams told Fox 4 the project "is going to fundamentally change our city"; the town's population has doubled in five years, and officials expect new commercial tax revenue that could lower residents' property taxes. Any data centers built on the ranch would also have to clear new state rules: Governor Greg Abbott ordered the state's grid operator, ERCOT, and its utility regulator on August 3, 2026 to audit data centers seeking to connect to the grid and to deny connections to any that fail to comply.