According to DCD, Blue Owl-backed developer Beale Infrastructure has broken ground on its $1 billion Project Clydesdale data center campus in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The 506-acre development in Owasso will consist of at least one phase with three possible additional phases, each covering approximately 200,000 square feet. The project, which received county approval for economic development plans and tax incentives in September, is expected to create 100 high-paying jobs. This development represents a significant bet on Oklahoma’s emerging tech infrastructure landscape, which currently lacks a major data center ecosystem beyond Google’s existing campus in Pryor. This strategic move signals a broader shift in data center development patterns worth examining.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
The Secondary Market Gambit
Beale’s Oklahoma investment represents a calculated bet on secondary markets that traditional data center developers have largely overlooked. While major players concentrate on established hubs like Northern Virginia, Phoenix, and Dallas, Beale is targeting regions with lower land costs, available power capacity, and growing demand from edge computing and regional businesses. The company’s announcement of 100 high-paying jobs in a market starved for tech employment creates immediate political and community goodwill that translates into tangible benefits like the tax incentives approved in September.
Follow the Money: Blue Owl’s Infrastructure Play
The financial backing from Blue Owl Capital reveals much about the business model behind this development. As a major alternative asset manager with over $150 billion in assets under management, Blue Owl sees infrastructure as a core component of its real estate and credit strategies. Data centers represent one of the most attractive infrastructure investments today, combining real estate appreciation with technology sector growth. By funding Beale’s expansion into underserved markets, Blue Owl positions itself to capture premium returns from markets where competition is minimal compared to saturated primary hubs.
Redefining the Competitive Map
What makes this development particularly strategic is its timing relative to Oklahoma’s broader infrastructure evolution. With Google’s established presence in Pryor providing proof of concept for the region’s viability, and Meta-linked Project Anthem reportedly beginning construction next year, Beale positions itself as an early mover in what could become a meaningful cluster. The company isn’t just building data centers—it’s helping create an ecosystem that will attract additional investment, much like how early cloud providers transformed previously quiet markets into tech hubs.
The Risk-Reward Calculus
While the opportunity is substantial, the risks are equally real. Secondary markets like Tulsa face challenges in skilled workforce availability, though the promise of 100 high-paying jobs suggests Beale may be importing talent initially. Power infrastructure represents another critical consideration—while Oklahoma has competitive energy costs, ensuring reliable, scalable power for potential future phases requires careful planning. The phased approach indicates Beale is managing risk by not committing to full build-out until market demand materializes, a prudent strategy given the capital intensity of data center development.
Broader Market Implications
Beale’s parallel developments in Kansas and Arizona suggest this isn’t an isolated bet but part of a coordinated national strategy targeting secondary markets with specific characteristics: available land, competitive power costs, and growing regional demand. This approach could pressure established players to reconsider their geographic concentration or risk ceding emerging markets to agile newcomers. As TierPoint’s existing Tulsa presence demonstrates, there’s already established demand in these markets—the question has been whether developers would commit the capital to serve it at scale.
The success of Project Clydesdale could trigger a wave of similar investments across America’s heartland, fundamentally reshaping how technology infrastructure gets distributed beyond traditional coastal hubs. For Oklahoma, this represents more than just jobs—it’s a potential transformation of the state’s economic identity from energy-centric to tech-enabled.
