Prime Data Centers has fired up the bulldozers at McClellan Park, starting work on SMF02, a 150,000-square-foot, AI-ready data center that will pack 18 megawatts of critical IT capacity into Sacramento’s north side. The new build, on the company’s existing McClellan Park campus, follows the launch of SMF01 and is pitched as a way to serve companies chasing high-density compute outside the Bay Area as AI and other high-performance workloads keep climbing.
As reported by ConnectCRE, Prime formally announced the groundbreaking and shared a statement from Michael Hildebrand, who said, "Sacramento has proven itself as a strategic growth market." The outlet highlighted SMF02’s role in widening Prime’s Sacramento presence, in line with the company’s vision for the campus.
Site specs, jobs and sustainability
According to Prime’s own announcement, SMF02 is planned as a 150,000-square-foot facility with 18 megawatts of critical IT load. The company says the data center will use closed-loop cooling and purchase Water Restoration Certificates to balance its water use. Prime expects the project to support roughly 250 construction jobs and about 30 permanent positions once the facility is up and running.
Prime also named Clune Construction as the general contractor and confirmed that the McClellan Park campus is served by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The company is framing SMF02 as part of a broader push to deliver AI-ready, high-density infrastructure in Sacramento; the full release is available from Prime Data Centers.
Grid capacity and permitting
How fast SMF02 can move from dirt lot to live racks will depend heavily on local grid capacity. In a recent report on an AI data center stampede, SMUD officials were described as grappling with a wave of proposals and the technical and permitting puzzles that come with them. Substation upgrades, on-site generation, and the timing of interconnection agreements are all on the table as the utility and developers sort out what is possible, and how soon.
What it means for the region
Prime’s latest build underlines a strategy that has been unfolding for years: position Sacramento as a lower-cost alternative to Silicon Valley for hyperscale and purpose-built data centers. Industry coverage dating back to Prime’s first McClellan facility has tracked that play. Data Center Dynamics and other outlets have pointed to the campus’ selling points, including proximity to the Bay Area, relatively low flood risk, and access to SMUD’s low-carbon power mix.
On paper, SMF02 brings obvious benefits: construction and long-term jobs, plus fresh tax revenue. At the same time, it drops Sacramento right back into familiar arguments over water consumption, power demand, and land use. As shovels hit the ground at McClellan, those conversations are likely to get louder, not quieter.
