Galaxy Digital Project Merlin (McGregor) data center, McGregor, Texas

Galaxy Digital's Project Merlin, a data center campus of more than $400 million on almost 500 acres in the city's industrial park in McGregor, McLennan County, Texas, has set off a petition to recall the town's mayor. The McGregor City Council approved the land sale to GXMG LLC, a Galaxy subsidiary, in a closed session at a special called meeting on June 22, 2026. Galaxy says the campus will start with 75 megawatts of grid power from 2028 and could grow into a multi-hundred-megawatt campus by 2030.

Dennis Fehler, a fourth-generation McGregor native, started the recall petition in late June, calling the closed-door land sale "a noon special meeting" with "poor public notice (and) closed sessions." By mid-July more than 60 people had signed his petition; the recall movement needs at least 100 signatures before it can move toward changing city leadership. "He's the captain of the Titanic, and that's why we're going to get rid of him," Fehler said of Mayor Jim Lilley.

Galaxy told the council each building would use about 3,000 gallons of water a day in closed-loop cooling, with a cap City Manager Kevin Evans said is written into the contract at "a total maximum of 30,000 gallons a day." "Any infrastructure upgrades that we need for our power, it's on us. We pay for that. It comes out of our pocket," Galaxy's Drew Luna told the council.

The city says it made $7.5 million on the land sale and that Galaxy will pay property taxes on a $130 million base with no tax breaks, while building and paying for its own substation and any needed transmission upgrades. The closed-door approval follows years of water violations tied to SpaceX testing at the same park, where a groundwater district has cited the city three years running for overpumping wells and has demanded it obtain rights for the extra water and pay a fine.

Governor Greg Abbott's statewide moratorium on new data center grid connections, ordered August 3, 2026 pending an audit of the ERCOT queue, could affect the timing of Project Merlin's first 75 megawatts. City leaders said construction would not begin for several months after the June vote.