Date Published:
August 26, 2026
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TLD 066 - Why Landowner Trust Decides Whether a Data Center Gets Built with Drew Burke
Guests
Drew Burke
Say “data center” to a Texas landowner right now and you'll hear about the last five years: calls every week, promises that didn't hold, and a worst-case story leading the news. That fatigue is what you're walking into, and it decides deals before the numbers do.
Drew Burke runs data center site selection for Hanwha, a South Korean conglomerate, after leaving a career at Shell. He joins Brent and Natalie to talk about what responsible development takes in Texas now: answering the water question straight, why a withdrawn Henderson County project was good news, and how roughly $50,000 a megawatt of at-risk security moved land work onto the critical path.
If you're the conduit between a landowner and a company in a hurry, this one's for you.
Key Topics & Timestamps
- 01:03 - Episode Intro
- 03:01 - Get to Know Drew Burke
- 04:51 - Shell Career Across Energy
- 09:51 - Hanwha Shift to Solar and Data Centers
- 19:44 - Landowner Trust and Industry Guardrails
- 33:32 - Cost Allocation Guardrails
- 35:07 - Governor Mandate Requirements
- 37:17 - Grid Reliability Slow Ramp
- 41:04 - Texas ISO Differences
- 53:12 - Risk Sharing and Wrap Up
Memorable Quotes
“Development should be boring.” — Drew
“The numbers will make it viable, but at the end of the day, the narrative is what's gonna make it possible.” — Drew
“The ground game is what's important, and that relationship with the landowner is where it all begins.” — Brent
“I always think it's important to dignify somebody's journey.” — Drew
“We probably need 1,000 more Drew Burkes in this industry.” — Natalie
Key Takeaways
- Trust comes before the numbers. Landowners are handing over ground with decades of story behind it, so ask about the story. People who feel understood will trust you to do right by them, even when the deal falls apart.
- Answer the water question straight. Say what you know, say what you can't control, and commit to walking away if the water doesn't work. Hedging reads as evasion, and nothing you say after it lands.
- A withdrawn project is the system working. The developer hit a stage gate in Henderson County, the site didn't clear, and they walked instead of pushing a bad site onto a community.
- New financial security runs about $50,000 a megawatt, and most of it's at risk. That pushes site control, title, and surface use ahead of the interconnection agreement.
- Show up when a county floats a moratorium. Some are a community asking for time and some are a stall. Either way, sit at the table with the commissioners and drop the technocrat language.
- Budget real time for the narrative. Drew spent years on project valuations and still calls the narrative what makes a project possible. Clickbait travels faster than a feasibility study, so plan the community work like you plan the numbers.
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Resources
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More From Our Guests
- Drew Burke, Senior Director of Data Center Site Selection at Hanwha Data Centers
- Connect with Drew on LinkedIn
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