Proposed 2.52 Million-Square-Foot Data Center Campus Surfaces in Brighton, Colorado

A proposed data center campus in northeast Brighton could add another major project to Colorado's rapidly developing AI infrastructure landscape.

Documents obtained through an open-records request describe an early-stage proposal for eight two-story data center buildings totaling approximately 2.52 million square feet. Each building would contain about 315,000 square feet. The site is near County Road 4 and 50th Avenue in the Weld County portion of Brighton.

The proposal was reported publicly by Denver7 and BizWest.

The project remains at an early stage. The records describe pre-application meetings between planning firm Dewberry and Brighton officials in January and July 2025. A developer or eventual data center operator has not been publicly confirmed.

The city has since confirmed that it received a rezoning application to allow a data center on the site, according to Denver7. The proposal has not yet come before City Council for a public hearing. It remains a proposed development, with approval and delivery still unresolved.

Still, the scale and location make this proposal notable for anyone tracking Colorado's data center market.

Another major project northeast of Denver

The Brighton proposal adds to a growing concentration of AI and data center infrastructure activity northeast of Denver.

Brighton itself already has a significant connection to the AI infrastructure buildout. In March 2026, the city announced that Denver-based Crusoe would establish its 352,000-square-foot Spark Factory at 22600 E. I-76 Frontage Road.

According to the City of Brighton announcement, Crusoe plans to invest approximately $200 million in the facility and create more than 200 jobs. The factory is designed to manufacture modular data center infrastructure that can be transported to AI computing projects elsewhere.

The newly surfaced data center proposal is a separate project, and no public evidence currently connects Crusoe to it.

Together, however, the developments add to the significance of the I-76 and northeast Denver corridor for AI infrastructure.

The proposed scale is substantial

At 2.52 million square feet, the Brighton concept would represent a large physical campus.

Square footage alone does not establish the project's eventual electrical demand. Modern data center power density varies significantly depending on server configuration, cooling architecture and whether a facility is designed for conventional cloud workloads or high-density AI computing.

No reliable public power requirement for the Brighton proposal has yet been disclosed.

That number will be one of the most important details to watch.

For large AI campuses, available electrical capacity and the infrastructure required to deliver it can be more consequential than the amount of land available for construction.

This is why our Colorado infrastructure map tracks transmission lines, substations, generation, utility territories, fiber and land together rather than treating a data center as a conventional industrial real estate project.

The proposal is already affecting local policy

The project has also triggered a discussion about how Brighton should regulate data centers.

Brighton Mayor Pro Tem Peter Padilla told Denver7 that he intends to propose a 90-day moratorium on data center development at the October 6 City Council meeting.

Residents have raised questions involving water, noise and the proximity of large data center facilities to residential areas.

Those issues are increasingly appearing in Colorado data center permitting discussions.

Brighton was already considering how its development code should address data centers. Public comments submitted to the city's Planning Commission earlier in 2026 called for specific standards involving noise, backup generators, setbacks and public review. Brighton Planning Commission materials

The newly disclosed campus could accelerate that process.

Why Brighton matters for Colorado data center development

Brighton's location puts it in an increasingly interesting part of Colorado's infrastructure geography.

The city sits along I-76 northeast of Denver, between the Denver metropolitan area and the agricultural and energy-producing regions farther onto the Eastern Plains.

The broader region also sits near major transmission infrastructure and several utility territories.

That does not mean every industrial parcel northeast of Denver is suitable for a data center. Transmission proximity does not establish available electrical capacity, and a nearby fiber route does not establish available fiber capacity.

Those questions require additional diligence.

The Brighton proposal is useful because it provides another real-world signal that sophisticated development teams are evaluating this part of Colorado for very large infrastructure projects.

What happens next

Several pieces of information will determine how significant the Brighton proposal becomes.

The first is the identity of the developer or intended operator. The second is the proposed electrical demand. The third is the project's utility and power-delivery strategy. The fourth is the exact parcel assemblage and land-control structure. The fifth is Brighton's regulatory response.

Those questions illustrate why infrastructure proximity is only the beginning of a site review. LandmAIn's methodology for evaluating infrastructure proximity separates mapped infrastructure from the utility, carrier and entitlement evidence needed to establish whether a site can actually support development.

Utility territory will also matter. Our analysis of United Power's large-load activity shows how the utility serving a property can change both the commercial and technical path for a large-load project.

The Brighton proposal is also another example of permitting becoming a meaningful site-selection variable in Colorado. Recent decisions in Weld County, Colorado Springs and Commerce City show how local approval processes can produce very different development timelines.

The project therefore represents both an infrastructure story and a land-use story.

Colorado's data center market is no longer developing under a uniform set of local rules. Cities and counties are making different decisions about where data centers belong, what conditions should apply and how much public review they require.

For developers and landowners, that makes jurisdiction increasingly important alongside power, fiber and land.

Explore Colorado data center sites and infrastructure on the LandmAIn map.

We will continue tracking the Brighton proposal as additional filings identify the developer, site boundaries, power requirements and permitting path.