The De Soto, Kansas, city council in August 2025 approved plans by Beale Infrastructure to build a more than $3 billion data center campus. Construction for the first phase of the project is anticipated to begin in 2026, and be completed in 2027. A full build-out is slated by 2035.
Constructed adjacent to the site of the Sunflower Ammunition Plant, the four-building complex was projected to generate more than $5 million in annual franchise fees — more than the city’s current annual property tax revenue.
“When [Sunflower Ammunition Plant] closed, a lot of that stuff went away,” said De Soto Mayor Rick Walker in a conversation with KCUR’s Up To Date. “And now that that is finally being cleaned up... the vision is that that would be the job center, the economic engine that can carry De Soto into the future.”
Digital Realty, another data center provider, is also eyeing the area for construction of a new campus.
The U.S. has more data centers than any other country. The facilities house thousands of servers that store, analyze, send and process information, and the rise of generative artificial intelligence is increasing the demand.
Walker said infrastructure to support the recently constructed Panasonic battery plant makes the location appealing to the data center companies and other industrial growth.
“It's an opportunity for us to look at a different way to fund city functions. It's also an opportunity for us to look at community enhancements,” Walker said. “We're considering a community center right now, that’s something a community our size could never possibly afford without outside revenue sources to help support it.”
Toni Caldwell, a De Soto resident, said she’s concerned about the environmental and residential impacts of the data centers.
“There are houses in the area,” Caldwell said. “There have been no environmental impact studies.”
Data centers consume significant amounts of energy and water, as well as air, noise and light pollution, affecting both humans and wildlife.
The centers have stirred controversy in other parts of Johnson County, with some cities rejecting the construction.
In Independence, Missouri, residents voted out some city council members who supported an AI data center. Another council member is facing a recall election.
Caldwell said the De Soto project is moving too fast.
“I am for technology, and I am for us developing, but it needs to be smart growth, and something that will not impact the health and the environment of our city,” Caldwell said.
- Rick Walker, mayor, De Soto, Kan.
- Toni Caldwell, resident, De Soto, Kan.
