Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) shares have been out of form this year.

Since the start of the year, the industrial property company's shares have lost 13% of their value.

But that's not for a lack of trying.

Goodman Group has been embarking on a major development plan to fuel its future growth and create value for shareholders.

Goodman building first US data centre

Last week, the company revealed that it has commenced construction of Goodman LAX01 Vernon (LAX01). It is a 49.5 MW data centre in Vernon, California.

According to the release, sitting on a 5.6 acre site, the three-level facility is set to provide an estimated 32MW of critical IT capacity once fully fitted out. The data centre will be powered shell ready by mid-2026.

The company highlights that LAX01 is strategically located in the City of Vernon in the Los Angeles metro area. It is approximately four miles from Downtown Los Angeles and One Wilshire, a primary network connection hub servicing the US West Coast.

The site has low latency of 0.35 milliseconds Round-Trip Time (RTT), a dual fed redundant power supply, and is in close proximity to a robust ecosystem of existing service providers with an abundance of fibre carriers nearby.

Goodman advised that it acquired the site for the data centre in 2023 and since then has successfully partnered with the City of Vernon and its Public Utilities Department to unlock the full potential of the location.

Designed with high levels of redundancy and flexibility at its core, management highlights that Goodman LAX01 Vernon accelerates the delivery of additional capacity in the Los Angeles metro market. This is to meet the growing demand of hyperscale and colocation customers.

Commenting on the data centre and its future plans, Goodman's CEO, Greg Goodman, said:

LAX01 continues the build out of our 5 GW global power bank supported by our strong balance sheet. It's a key part of the 500MW program of new projects we expect to commence by June 2026 across North America, Continental Europe, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong.

The company's North America CEO, Anthony Rozic, adds:

Goodman LAX01 Vernon is a great model of the prime characteristics of Goodman's targeted data center locations, as we continue to expand our power bank in North America.

Features such as redundant power availability, proximity to critical infrastructure with well-established nodes of fiber networks, construction and technical expertise to enable development and operational jobs and a strong supportive regulatory regime to facilitate business growth – are all evident in our development in the City of Vernon.

Should you invest?

The team at Citi thinks that Goodman shares are great value right now.

The broker recently put a buy rating and $40.00 price target on its shares. This implies potential upside of approximately 28% for investors from current levels.