Modine has started commercial production of Airedale chillers at a new Grand Prairie plant built for data-center cooling.
The company said Wednesday that the first line is running inside a 682,000-square-foot facility dedicated to 2-megawatt and 3-megawatt chillers with free cooling. Modine expects the site to become the largest Airedale chiller plant in its global footprint, according to its announcement.
A Plant Built for Big Chillers
The Grand Prairie building is purpose-built for those large chillers, aimed at hyperscale cloud providers, colocation operators and high-density artificial-intelligence computing. Free cooling is part of the product, not an add-on listed in the release.
Airedale's data-center thermal portfolio also includes dry coolers, coolant distribution units and intelligent controls. The company describes the systems as engineered to raise efficiency across thermal architectures while cutting energy and water use under high-density loads. Grand Prairie adds dedicated chiller manufacturing inside that broader range.
President and CEO Neil D. Brinker called the start of production "an important milestone in the plan we announced last year to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity for Airedale cooling technologies." He has also said that putting capacity closer to customers lets Modine work with them on engineered cooling solutions.
One Line Running, More Still Planned
The first production line began operating this month. The plant is on one shift. Modine is targeting four operational 2-megawatt lines by the end of its current fiscal year and plans to scale, systematically, to a three-shift model.
Those are targets, not finished milestones. Reaching the planned setup still depends on commissioning the remaining lines, getting the workforce ready and adding shifts. The company has not said when the four-line layout or the three-shift schedule will actually be in place.
A Capped City Incentive
The local deal predates the first chiller off the line. On Oct. 13, 2025, Grand Prairie's Tax Increment Financing District 1 board approved an economic development incentive agreement with Modine. John Lopez made the motion, Bessye Adams seconded it, and the board approved it, according to meeting materials.
The presentation put Modine's Grand Prairie investment at about $59 million. It capped the incentive at $788,407, to be funded over roughly five years from TIF District 1 revenues, with payments tied to job creation, payroll and capital-investment performance. Approval of the agreement is not the same thing as a check already written.
Part of a Wider U.S. Buildout
Grand Prairie sits inside a multi-year, $100 million capacity push Modine announced in July 2025 to scale Airedale data-center cooling production. That program also covers expansions in Grenada, Mississippi, and Jefferson City, Missouri, plus a plant in Franklin, Wisconsin, Data Center Dynamics reported.
Franklin is the smaller sibling on paper: a 155,000-square-foot facility opened to expand the same cooling business. Modine projected more than 300 new jobs there by March 2026 and about 430 employees within three years. Those figures were company projections, not a later headcount. By September 2026 the company was still recruiting for up to 300 first- and second-shift positions in Franklin and said the added workers would help ramp production as demand grew for energy-efficient data-center cooling.
The $59 million Grand Prairie figure in the city presentation and the $100 million national program are different scopes. One is the local investment described to the TIF board. The other is the multi-site plan that also includes Franklin, Grenada and Jefferson City.
What Still Has to Happen in Grand Prairie
Commercial production has started, on one line and one shift, inside a building Modine expects to be its largest Airedale chiller plant. The next test is operational: four 2-megawatt lines and a three-shift schedule, if commissioning and hiring keep up. Any city payments still have to be earned against jobs, payroll and capital spending, up to that $788,407 cap.
