Cal Poly Hosts Data Center Development Forum

Cal Poly's Real Estate Initiative held its second Real Estate Day, focused on the economic and environmental implications of data centers.

Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Data Centers

Cal Poly Hosts Data Center Development Forum

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Would you support a data center being built in your community?

Cal Poly's Real Estate Initiative hosted its second Real Estate Day, with panel discussions on data center development featuring business professionals, Cal Poly faculty and local government officials. More than 200 people attended at one point during the event.

Why it matters

Data centers require substantial land, water for cooling and fossil-fuel-generated energy, making their development a question with direct consequences for the San Luis Obispo area and the wider Central Coast. The discussions gave residents and officials a forum to weigh the economic benefits against those environmental costs.

The event's reported figure is attendance of more than 200 people at one point, drawn from a single university event, with no prior-year comparison available. Total attendance across the full day and any policy outcomes from the panels remain unreported.

The players

Cal Poly's Real Estate Initiative

The program at California Polytechnic State University that organizes real estate education, research and community events for students and industry professionals in San Luis Obispo.

Christina Fugazi

The mayor of Stockton, California, who participated in a panel discussing how data center revenue could fund local infrastructure improvements.

The details

Panels brought together business professionals, Cal Poly faculty and local government officials to discuss data centers, which house computer systems that store information, run internet programs and train AI models. Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi discussed how data center development revenue could help fund local infrastructure, including road repairs, and architecture professor Thomas Fowler spoke on a panel while architecture students designed data center concepts for a class project.

November 13, 2026: Cal Poly's Real Estate Initiative held its second Real Estate Day focused on data centers.

Roadmap

Data centers have become a growing focus for regional planners as AI and cloud computing expand their physical footprint. The Cal Poly event places San Luis Obispo's discussion alongside Stockton's efforts to tie data center revenue to local infrastructure funding.

Residents of San Luis Obispo and the Central Coast may see data center proposals weigh on local land use, water and energy decisions. Revenue from such projects could eventually help fund road repairs and other infrastructure in nearby cities.

The takeaway

Data centers bring economic opportunity but also large demands on land, water and power, so residents should follow local planning discussions as proposals come forward. Public forums like Cal Poly's Real Estate Day are one way to understand both sides before decisions are made.