HighPoint 2222 Campus
NOTE: Click on the embedded links to view documents and related information.
The site was acquired by SE COSMOS LLC on March 20, 2026. Cosmos turned out to be just a transactional legal entity for SB Energy, who is the actual owner/operator of the site.
Initially there will be a single tenant (Graphcore) who will be using the site as an AI R&D center where they will design AI chips for use in advanced compute products, and robotics applications. Development filings and job postings indicate the 234,000 sq ft space they will occupy will include a thermal test area, a machine shop, and three data hall /labs with 50MW of compute power for them to stand-up and test their products in a data center like environment.
The "Cosmos campus" is located at 6801 River Place Blvd., Austin, Texas. The 157 acre parcel of land is divided into 4 Lots. Lots 2 through 4 are part of the contiguous main campus. Separate from the main campus lots is Lot 1, which is located on the West side of River Place Blvd. and is sometimes referred to as the "Porkchop" because of its shape.
Project Overview
Key Public Info Sources
Site History:
- 1984: a Planned Development Agreement (PDA) on the property restricted the tract to Light Industrial, no residential.
- 1985: The City of Austin annexed the property to Full Austin Jurisdiction and divided the campus with a separate Lot 1 with land dedication to extend River Place Blvd. and connect it to Four Points Drive.
- 1986: Just a couple of years before 3M moved in, the property was re-zoned as Research & Development.
- 2017: 3M sold the property to World Class Capital Group.
- April 2019: 3M moved out of the campus.
- 2019–2021: The property went into foreclosure and was acquired in 2021 by Karlin, which repositioned it for research and development use along with mixed housing.
- March 2026: Karlin sold the property to SB Energy via SE Cosmos LLC.
Site Zoning:
Permitted uses for owners of properties in Austin are regulated by the City of Austin's Land Development Code (LDC). The zoning regulations are specified under Title 25, Chapter 25-2. Zoning rules address Residential, Commercial, and Industrial sites. In the case of the former 3M Austin Center, which is a campus size site, a Planned Development Agreement (PDA) was used by the City to define permitted uses at the site. The mechanism used to create the PDA's were Ordinances issued by the City.
What SB Energy is permitted to do with the property is governed by the provisions of the three previous 3M PDA's: Ordinance 841115-GG dated 11-29-1984, Ordinance 850221-K dated 2-21-1985, and Ordinance 860619-Q dated 6-19-1986. The PDA's have strong Performance Standards, in some cases better than current zoning regulations, with detailed measurement criteria for Noise and Vibrations limits.
Development Filings:
Formal development filings for this project include: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) filing dated 3-15-2026, and Commercial Plan Review 2026-009760 PR, There are other development filings, but much of the supporting documentation on those filings are not included as attachments. The TDLR filing specifies the overall scope of the renovations at 234,000 sq ft in size. The Commercial Plan documents go into more detail of what renovations are planned. Even though some of the details are omitted as client confidential, there is enough information in the architectural drawings and electrical notations in the filings to conclude this is an AI chip test-and-development facility with three integrated data halls totaling 45 MW of designed capacity. This is consistent with a Graphcore-style chip design and testing facility where you need a scale-model data -center rack environment to validate chips under load.
Financial Filings:
Much of the project timelines and milestones are hidden from the public under the banner of client confidential information. However, the filings associated with financing the project and the disclosures made by SB Energy as part of SEC filings for their future IPO, have project details not disclosed elsewhere. The most complete project information from a financing summary comes from Fitch Ratings. Among other things the Fitch Ratings report discloses is the timeline for power usage: "— about 12 months from mobilization to completion of the first 5 MW and office space, and 13 months for the remaining 45 MW" and also details on the substation upgrades being performed by Austin Energy: "...available capacity must be upgraded from 20 MW to 70 MW. Under a signed facilities extension agreement, the local utility will install two new transformers, uprate an existing transformer, and complete related equipment and support infrastructure. Risk is moderated because the site already has an operating substation, which limits the scope of required work because no new substation is needed. In addition, transformers are already on site, reducing exposure to long-lead procurement delays.
The upgrade will be completed in phases, with 30 MW expected to be commissioned by April 30, 2026, and the remaining 40 MW by Oct. 31, 2026, based on the current schedule."
SB Energy's Form S-1 filing with the SEC has a wealth of information regarding corporate ownership and relationships, financial statements, project descriptions, and other useful project information on the Cosmos project. This S-1 document provides the most detailed public information available to date. Even though Cosmos is referred to as a "50MW Data Center" multiple times throughout the document, it clearly is at a much smaller scale in terms of power than all of the other Data Center projects mentioned.
Because SB Energy has filed for an IPO they are subject to the Security Act of 1933 which has regulations for a "Quiet Period" where SB Energy may be limited on what they can say publicly about their business. SB Energy was however able to release a two-page Fact Sheet on the HighPoint 2222 Campus.
Terminolgy
What is a Data Center?
Part of the challenge for Federal, State, and City entities responsible for defining the safeguards and regulations for Commercial and Industrial companies exists because the term "Data Center" is not well understood and therefore hasn't been included as a defined use case in zoning regulations. Much effort is going into getting a common definition for Data Centers as demonstrated by the Data Center presentation by City planning, Austin Energy, and Austin Water at a City Council Work Session on August 25, 2026. A Memorandum on Data Centers was included in the backup materials of Agenda Item 61 of the August 27, 2026 Austin City Council Meeting. A video recording of the Agenda Item 61 discussion is available online.
There are several thresholds defined for water usage and power usage where additional oversight and regulations are triggered. On the water usage side, any customer who uses 85-million gallons of water a year is considered a "large volume" customer and gets additional oversight by Austin Water. On the electricity side, there are three levels of usage that trigger special handling: at 20MW the customer is required to pay for upgrades to deliver power to their property; at 25MW the customer is required to complete and submit to ERCOT the State Data Center Audit issued by Gov. Abbott; at 75MW a customer is considered a "Large Load" and has additional reporting and filing requirements to apply for a power grid connection.
