Compass Datacenters CEO Chris Crosby joined Willy Walker, Chairman & CEO of Walker & Dunlop, on the July 1 Walker Webcast to talk about what it really takes to build data centers communities want to live next to. A recent Connect CRE feature covers the conversation and what “social license” means for the next phase of digital infrastructure growth.
Good Neighbors for the Long Haul
Infrastructure readiness, policy engagement and community relationships now matter as much as land and capital access, Crosby argued.
“I think it’s very important for us to be good neighbors. I consider it to be social license,” Crosby said. “If you’re going to be somewhere for 100 years, you know, you’re going to put infrastructure in place for a very, very long period of time, you better do it well.”
Setting the Record Straight on Water and Power
Two of the industry’s most common criticisms came up directly. On water use, Compass has built its facilities around dry-cooling technology instead of evaporative systems.
“As a decision for us to build anywhere we want to, we’ve always made water something that we don’t use,” Crosby said.
On grid strain, the real culprit is decades of deferred infrastructure investment, not data center demand itself, he argued, adding that developers should treat backup power as a community resource rather than only a project necessity.
Transparency as the Foundation
Being upfront with communities, sharing both the benefits and the trade-offs, and being willing to help fund extras a community needs, like an animal shelter or water tower, came up as a central theme.
“We have an obligation for transparency, to communicate things, and to share the positive as well as the negative sides,” Crosby said.
Communities, in turn, should hold developers accountable rather than block projects outright. “To say no to a project is crazy to me,” he said. “It’s not serving your people.”
What Comes Next
The moment marks an inflection point for the industry: less about speed to market, more about education and alignment with the communities, regulators and utilities that make development possible.
“Ultimately, our job as an industry is to be transparent about what we are doing,” Crosby said. “This all starts with us.”
