Another giant, billion-dollar data center is coming to the Kansas City region.
The city of Liberty, the Missouri Department of Economic Development
and Los Angeles-based Metrobloks announced the $1.4 billion project
on Tuesday.
"We believe this is the first step in building a high-tech foundation to our
city's economy going forward," Liberty Mayor Greg Canuteson said in a
statement.
Metrobloks says it plans to build three buildings totaling 568,800 square
feet on Old Hughes Road south of South Liberty Parkway near the
Liberty Commerce Center. CEO Ernest Popescu called Liberty “a rising
digital economy and innovation hub.”
The center will create 30 jobs with an average salary of about $95,000 a
year, according to the state economic development department.
“Metrobloks’ investment is another powerful signal that the Kansas City
region is well-positioned for the next phase of the digital economy,” said
Tim Cowden, president of the Kansas City Area Development Council.
“Data infrastructure powers every aspect of modern life.”
Liberty officials voted Monday to approve $1.4 billion in bonds and
$202.7 million in tax abatements over 25 years for the new data center. In exchange, the city said Metrobloks also agreed to contribute $28 million, over the course of 25 years, to help fund the nonprofit Liberty Institute for Science and Ethics.
Liberty development director Brandon Smith said the city won’t be on
the hook to repay the bonds, which will be purchased by Metrobloks.
"There are other cities that back the bonds," Smith told KSHB. "We will
not back the bonds."
That is not the case in Independence, where the future of a $6 billion
data center is now in the hands of a Jackson County judge.
Independence City Council voted to give the developer, Nebius, a 90%
tax break over 20 years.
Three residents sued Independence after the city denied their petition to
let voters weigh in on the project, which would be one of the biggest
developments in city history. A lawyer for Independence acknowledged
the subject was “a little controversial at times” and compared the tax
abatement to a contract for trash pickup services.
The judge could rule this week. Residents are still collecting signatures,
and currently have about two-thirds of what they need to move forward
if the judge sides with them.
Three huge data centers are also proposed for Wyandotte County. If all
three data center projects came online, the Board of Public Utilities
would need to generate and roughly triple the electricity it currently produces.
In addition to concerns over public funding, opposition to data centers has often centered around their enormous electricity and water usage and impact on the local environment. Liberty's announcement declared that the Metrobloks project features a "very low water use design and low impact operations, with limited demands on schools, emergency services and municipal resources."
Last month, Metrobloks won approval to build a data center near Indianapolis.
