Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas recently spoke with Bisnow as part of its annual outlook on the forces shaping data center development in 2026. The wide-ranging piece explores how artificial intelligence, power constraints, capital discipline, and politics are reshaping where and how data centers get built.
In the article, Adam highlights a critical shift underway across the industry: community opposition to data centers is no longer an isolated, local entitlement risk. Instead, it is becoming more organized, more scalable, and more predictable, with national advocacy networks, legal strategies, and messaging playbooks increasingly influencing local outcomes. As a result, political and community risk are now core site-selection and execution considerations, alongside power availability, cost, and speed to market.
The Bisnow feature also examines broader 2026 themes, including uncertainty around AI demand, execution risk for multigigawatt campuses, the rise of behind-the-meter power strategies, and how power access and public sentiment are redrawing the U.S. data center map. Together, these dynamics signal a pivotal year ahead, where developers that can execute, secure power, and proactively manage stakeholder risk will be best positioned to succeed.
Read the full article here.
