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Regional Industrial Realignment and Computational Infrastructure Expansion in Angelina County, Texas
From paper mill to gigawatt campus, Project Lufkin, captive biomass at 555 Sellers Street, and the limits of county leverage

Angelina County's digital-infrastructure footprint has moved from a single thinly-sourced protest headline (the ampz-angelina stub added in June 2026) to a genuine multi-project pipeline. Project Lufkin (AmpZ Champion Data Center Holdings, parent Amp Energy) is redeveloping the 1,041-acre former Southland Paper Mill site on SH-103 East into a phased hybrid campus: 55 MW grid-connected today, scaling to 175 MW (2026), 1.1 GW (2028), and an ultimate 2.1 GW with 1 GW of self-generation by 2029, at an estimated $1.05B to $2.0B in private capital, with a closed-loop water system cutting site draw from the legacy mill's 20 million gallons/day to roughly 500 gallons/day. Separately, Phoenix-based 1606 Corp is acquiring 555 Sellers Street, a 132-acre parcel with an existing 50,000 sq ft warehouse and a decommissioned 55 MW woody-biomass plant (former Aspen Power, to be operated by Sim Agro Inc.), for $11.17M to $11.67M, to run AI workloads on captive behind-the-meter power, closing extended to Oct 31, 2026 amid ad valorem tax litigation, operational target early 2027. A third, undisclosed site on Highway 103 West identified by County Judge Keith Wright has cleared state regulatory hurdles without county input, but every specific parameter (developer, MW, acreage) remains undisclosed; it is held here as market context, not a tracker project, consistent with this tracker's treatment of comparably thin single-source proposals elsewhere. The report's structural throughline is regulatory: Texas counties have no zoning or moratorium authority over unincorporated land, so Angelina County's only real leverage is negotiating Chapter 381 tax abatements for noise limits, landscape buffers, and decommissioning bonds, the same local-control gap already documented for Hill County and carried into this tracker from Gov. Abbott's June 2026 PUCT/ERCOT directive (already logged, not duplicated here). Supporting grid infrastructure (a 600 MW gas peaker and three BESS projects) is logged as context for the load growth, not as separate data center projects.

Comprehensive siting and technical asset database

ParameterProject Lufkin555 Sellers StreetHighway 103 West
DeveloperAmpZ Champion Data Center Holdings (parent: Amp Energy)1606 Corp (Phoenix-based); operations: Sim Agro Inc.Undisclosed — bypassed county siting
MW size2,100 MW ultimate (55 MW today → 175 MW 2026 → 1.1 GW 2028 → 2.1 GW 2029)55 MW (captive)Undisclosed
Grid / self-genHybrid — grid today, scaling to self-generationSelf-generation (behind-the-meter / captive)Undisclosed
Power gen. typeOncor transmission grid + 1 GW on-site self-generationCaptive woody biomass (former Aspen Power plant)Undisclosed
Land size1,041 acres (expandable to 4,000)~132 acresUndisclosed
Floor spaceUndisclosed (warehouse-style campus)50,000 sq ft existing climate-controlled warehouseUndisclosed
Estimated cost$1.05B–$2.00B private capital$11.17M–$11.67M acquisition costUndisclosed
Est. construction startSited/announced Feb 2026; negotiations ongoingAgreement signed Mar 17, 2026; closing targeted Oct 31, 2026Undisclosed (cleared state hurdles)
Est. completionPhased: 175 MW (2026), 1.1 GW (2028), 2.1 GW (2029)Operational target early 2027Undisclosed

Project Lufkin: the gigawatt-scale redevelopment paradigm

The largest planned development in the county sits on the 1,041-acre former Southland Paper Mill site on State Highway 103 East in unincorporated Angelina County, developed by Denver-based AmpZ Champion Data Center Holdings; parent Amp Energy brings global utility-transition experience to the project's power requirements. A phased power-integration model is designed to mitigate long ERCOT connection wait times: the property currently holds a 55 MW grid connection, expanding to 175 MW by 2026 and 1.1 GW by 2028, with 1 GW of self-generation added on-site by 2029 for an ultimate hybrid capacity of 2.1 GW. Option agreements allow the campus to expand to 4,000 acres.

If fully completed, the campus is projected to draw $1.05 billion in private capital for buildings and infrastructure, with national construction trackers estimating up to $2.00 billion in overall planning and development moves. Construction is expected to generate ~500 jobs over more than four years, with 30 full-time technical/facilities positions once operational. To address local water-usage concerns, the project is designed around a closed-loop water system: versus the legacy Southland Paper Mill's historical draw of up to 20 million gallons/day, the data center is projected to need only about 500 gallons/day — equivalent to three residential homes.

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