Memphis Light, Gas and Water has officially planted a flag in Cordova, closing Tuesday on the former Smith & Nephew corporate campus at 7135 Goodlett Farms Parkway for $27 million. The purchase hands the utility a move-in-ready office complex plus an on-site Tier IV data center that can back up operations and safeguard critical control systems, just as MLGW pushes ahead on major grid modernization work across its service territory.
According to the Memphis Business Journal, MLGW sealed the deal at $27 million. The campus, marketed by JLL, features a roughly 269,000-square-foot office building, a 26,000-square-foot Tier IV data center and a 5,000-square-foot warehouse. JLL notes the property has been on the market since 2024, after Smith & Nephew scaled back its Memphis footprint.
Council sign-off and MLGW's plans
The purchase stems from a resolution the Memphis City Council approved last September that allowed MLGW to spend up to $31.4 million on the Goodlett Farms site, according to the Daily Memphian. Reporting has highlighted that MLGW kicked around the idea of shifting its headquarters to Cordova, but the utility has since signaled the campus will serve mainly as an operations hub and home base for a new control room, rather than replacing its existing downtown headquarters.
Why the campus matters for the grid
MLGW has several grid upgrades in motion, including a request for proposals for large-scale solar projects and battery storage, initiatives the utility says will demand stronger control systems, more redundancy and tighter cybersecurity, as reported by WKNO. In its marketing materials, JLL plays up the same selling points, stressing that the Tier IV data center and existing infrastructure make Goodlett Farms a natural home for an operations center and other critical control equipment.
What's next and local impact
Before the Cordova campus fills up with crews and consoles, MLGW still has to work through design, retrofit projects and any needed permits. Local coverage has already raised questions about what happens downtown if more MLGW functions migrate east. Utility leaders have said core, customer-facing headquarters duties will remain downtown, while more specialized control and operations work ramps up at Goodlett Farms, per the Daily Memphian.
For now, the Goodlett Farms property joins MLGW's portfolio as the utility starts planning and retrofit work aimed at bolstering reliability and system resilience. We will update this story as MLGW brings contracts to light or releases a schedule for the new operations center.
