Ep. 19 - Is the Data Center Boom Real? Power, Risk & What's Next with Dillon Zahler & Nathan Persky
The power grid holding America's AI future together was built decades ago and it was never designed for this. Two of the sharpest minds in data center development just told us exactly what's coming. Trillions of dollars are flooding into data center development, but most of the people chasing that capital do not understand the fundamentals.
In this episode of CRE Unplugged, host Ryan Elazari sits down with Dillon Zahler, co-founder of Colossus Data Center Advisors, and Nathaniel Persky, Senior Director of Project Development at Dataprana, for a ground-level breakdown of what is actually happening in the data center market and what most people are getting wrong.
The conversation covers the real risk profile of AI-driven demand, why the anticipated power wall around 2030 is more serious than most developers are pricing in, and why natural gas remains the backbone of the energy mix despite the industry's renewable commitments. Zahler and Persky also tackle the community education gap that is generating moratoriums and misinformation at the local government level, and explain why data centers are in fact subsidizing grid upgrades that should have been completed decades ago.
Show Notes:
0:00: Introduction: Trillions Flowing Into Data Centers
1:32: Dinner Party Test: How Public Perception of Data Centers Has Shifted
4:26: What "Data Center" Actually Means
8:01: Dillon & Nathan's Origin Stories
11:47: AI Boom Risk: Overbuilt Capacity and the Reusability Problem
20:50: The Power Wall: What 2030 Actually Means for the Market
23:39: Who Is Really Paying for Grid Upgrades? The Subsidy Argument
34:01: Renewables vs. Reality: Why Natural Gas Is Still the Backbone
38:00: Nuclear Energy: Why Scaling It Is Harder Than Anyone Admits
44:57: Hyperscale vs. Smaller Sites: Where Is the Smart Money Going?
51:53: Community Pushback, Moratoriums, and the Education Gap
56:08: Economic Impact: Tax Revenue & Jobs
60:32: Advice for CRE Professionals Entering the Data Center Space
68:00: Ryan's Takeaways
GUEST BIOS
Dillon Zahler is the co-founder of Colossus Data Center Advisors, a development and due diligence platform that works with landowners, industrial groups, and financial institutions to evaluate data center potential. He began his career as a mechanical engineer serving the U.S. Navy and laboratory equipment sectors before moving into MEP design and construction management for data centers, where he has been involved in over five to six gigawatts of development exercises. His firm sits at the intersection of technical rigor and capital markets strategy.
Nathaniel Persky is the Senior Director of Project Development for Data Center Construction at Dataprana, where he leads large-scale facility development from site selection through execution. His path into the sector is unconventional as he spent years as a commercial real estate broker focused on high-power industrial users including movie studios and medical marijuana facilities before transitioning into data center development. That cross-sector background gives him a distinct perspective on capital deployment, utility relationships, and market evaluation.
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