Ankura helped a private landowner evaluate a multi-site portfolio for data center development and related power generation. The engagement brought together technical findings and commercial considerations into a coordinated diligence program, giving the client a clear basis for deciding what to advance, what required further validation, and when to engage the market.
The Client’s Challenge
The client was evaluating more than 1,000 acres of noncontiguous tracts for development. Evaluating the opportunity required an understanding of site constraints, existing environmental conditions, development approvals, and potential infrastructure solutions, together with their implications for a future transaction.
Ankura was engaged to provide independent due diligence advisory and project management support. The mandate connected site and infrastructure evaluation with transaction considerations and preparation for qualified-party outreach.
An Integrated Due Diligence Program
Ankura coordinated activities and information across the client, engineers, environmental specialists, utilities, local agencies, land brokers, and counsel. The team developed diligence requirements, checklists and document requests, managed specialist engagement, mapped nearby infrastructure, and consolidated findings from document review and stakeholder discussions.
Specialist reports and conceptual engineering remained subject to their stated limitations and further validation. Ankura’s role was to coordinate these inputs and connect their implications to the client’s planning and commercial decisions.
Turning Findings Into Development Decisions
- Define the power pathway before assuming development scale. Preliminary utility discussions identified potential initial service and subsequent expansion opportunities. Larger loads required a formal study before feasibility, timing, costs, and infrastructure requirements could be established. Ankura identified the need to determine responsibility for study funding and potential upgrades, making the next power decision both a technical and a commercial question.
- Carry site findings through to approvals and engineering. Favorable initial environmental findings did not resolve all development requirements. The diligence record identified additional wetland protected-species, subsurface, and floodplain work, while conceptual engineering addressed site capacity, stormwater, utility routing, and phasing. Ankura connected those inputs with planning and entitlement considerations so that early findings could inform the next stage of investigation.
- Test infrastructure options against service requirements. Nearby natural gas infrastructure offered a potential fuel source for related on-site power generation, while regional fiber providers offered potential diverse connectivity options. Capacity, routing, interconnection, commercial terms, delivery timing, and physical route diversity still needed confirmation. The assessment distinguished infrastructure proximity from a defined service solution.
- Sequence market engagement around development dependencies. Developer and broker feedback reinforced the importance of advancing entitlements and defining the path to power before broader marketing. Preliminary schedules connected these dependencies with potential sale and development milestones. This gave the client a basis for considering further diligence expenditure and the timing of outreach together.
What the Client Received
The engagement produced a coordinated record of the work completed and an agenda for advancing the opportunity. Its principal outputs linked diligence evidence to practical next steps:
- Consolidated Diligence Materials: Checklists, document lists, property information, infrastructure mapping, and specialist inputs supported a consistent understanding of the portfolio and preparation for prospective-party review.
- Preliminary Development Schedules: Planning-level schedules connected approvals, utility studies, agreements, infrastructure improvements, and prospective development activities.
- Transaction Considerations and Confidential Materials: Analysis of transaction alternatives, an offering memorandum, a draft marketing briefing, and a broker RFP supported preparation for future engagement.
- Recommended Next Steps: Advance the entitlement strategy and large-load utility study, clarify upgrade-cost responsibilities, and sequence broader outreach after entitlement and power milestones.
The completed work established a foundation for further development and transaction decisions, identifying a path to entitlements, secured utility services, commercial considerations, and transaction approaches.
The Broader Due Diligence Lesson
This engagement illustrates the value of connecting technical diligence with project management and commercial judgment. Ankura brought specialist findings, utility discussions, and stakeholder feedback into a common planning record, then related them to the client’s next decisions.
For an owner or investor evaluating an early-stage opportunity, the useful output is a clear view of what is known, what remains conditional, and which actions warrant the next commitment of time or capital. The capabilities demonstrated here span diligence program coordination, site and infrastructure assessment, entitlement coordination, schedule planning, and transaction preparation.
Learn more about Ankura’s data center delivery services and support for planning and pre-development decisions.
© Copyright 2026. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. Ankura is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice.
