Good Or Bad? Meta (Facebook) to Invest $800M in El Paso

Meta, which owns Facebook, is looking to put a data center in Northeast El Paso. The price tag for the project would be a hefty 800 million dollars.

Facebook put a similar data center in Las Lunas, New Mexico. According to Jon Barela of the Borderplex Alliance, the data center near Albuquerque has been a tremendous economic boon for the area.

He should know. He used to be the New Mexico Secretary of Economic Development and he worked hard to court Facebook for the Las Lunas site. Here’s what Barela told El Paso Inc. 

“It’s been transformational for Valencia County and the Albuquerque metropolitan region. It’ll have the same impact here.”

The site Meta is reportedly looking at is a one thousand-acre tract owned by the city in Northeast El Paso near the Texas/New Mexico state line.

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That part of the Northeast is about to explode. El Paso billionaire Paul Foster is developing thousands of acres across from Painted Dunes Desert golf course as a master-plan community.

The area, called Campo del Sol, is being built now. Reportedly, Campo del Sol will have 2,500 homes, parks and walking trails, and a resort-style amenity center.

Barela said there are other locations in El Paso that Meta is considering, but the Northeast location is their top pick. On Monday, El Paso City Council approved a development agreement with the company which includes an 80% property tax rebate for Meta.

There’s no word on how many jobs the Metadata center will bring to El Paso but the Las Lunas center, which is similar in size and cost, will employ about 150 people when it is completed in 2024.

Earlier this year, Meta/Facebook announced they were cutting 11,000 employees…about 13% of their workforce.