Blank Rome of counsel Clifton D. Beech will serve as a panelist at Bisnow’s Central Region Data Center Construction, Design & Development Conference, being held in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:35 p.m., with a reception to follow. Blank Rome is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor of the Conference.

About the Program

This event will be a practitioner-led forensic of the Sunbelt construction cycle, covering what turns a land position into a permitted, financed, energized project when interconnection queues, community pushback, and grid timelines will not move on a developer’s schedule.

Clifton’s session, “The Sunbelt Build Cycle, Honestly: What Is Real, What Is Announced, and What Is Stalling,” will take place from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m.

About the Session

Data centers are the most capital-intensive, politically exposed asset class in commercial real estate right now, and the South has more announced capacity than almost anywhere. The gap between what’s been committed on paper and what actually reaches customers is where the real business decisions are being made. The panel will discuss how development executives across Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston, and the broader Southeast corridor are navigating the reputation problem, the community relations arms race, grid interconnection backlogs, and the pressure to move faster than the grid or public debate will allow.

Panelists:

  • Clifton Beech, Of Counsel, Blank Rome LLP
  • Jay Smith, Vice President Evocative
  • Perry Pound, Managing Partner Cambridge Pacific

Other sessions include:

  • What Turns Dirt into a Data Center
  • Building for AI: The New Construction Playbook
  • Mechanical Systems at Scale: What AI Density Actually Requires
  • From Blueprint to Build: Best Practices for Physical Security Throughout Development
  • Building Around the Grid: Financing and Permitting Power On and Off Site
  • From Contract to Commissioned: Labor, Procurement and the Race to Deliver
  • The 2028 Forecast: What Has to Go Right

For more information and to register, please visit the Central Region Data Center Construction, Design & Development Conference webpage.