AI infrastructure company unveils plans for Callaway County data center

KINGDOM CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) 

As data center projects continue to pop up across the country, an artificial intelligence company is now eyeing Callaway County for its next development.

On Tuesday, the Callaway County Chamber of Commerce and Denver-based AI infrastructure provider Crusoe hosted an informational open house at 54 Country in Kingdom City to discuss a proposed data center project and answer questions from residents.

Largest private investment in Callaway County history

Crusoe's proposed data center would be built along County Road 240. Local officials describe the multi-billion-dollar development as the largest private investment in Callaway County history.

The project includes two data center buildings of about 800,000 square feet each, creating a sizable new industrial and technology footprint in what is now a rural area. According to Crusoe Director of Economic Development Morgan Alu, each building would have about 204 megawatts of power, with the entire campus capped at 500 megawatts.

"We believe as a company that we should be having dialogue with the community, making sure they're informed, being extremely transparent," Alu said. "Not a lot of other developers like to do this so early, but we think it's really important to be here in the community answering their questions, come back and do this more and more as the project continues to move on."

Alu added that Callaway County stood out as a place to build because of its existing electrical infrastructure.

"We are a very power-first company, so we work with the regulated utilities, the co-ops, all of those sort of folks to identify power that is already available. That is the case here in Callaway County," Alu said. "We were able to find power that is already existing. What we then do is we bring the development to the power, and what that does is it allows us and the utilities not to have to add as much infrastructure, make it a lot easier, and then we actually will pay for all the infrastructure ourselves. So it's very important to us that we protect ratepayers, and all that investment comes out of Crusoe's pocket."

Crusoe projects substantial increases in local tax revenue over 25 years, with commitments to direct that funding toward schools, roads, emergency services, public safety, health care facilities and youth programming.

Callaway County Western District Commissioner Christopher Scott says they are treating the proposal like any other business trying to enter the county. 

"It's not something we looked into. It came to us as any other business moving into the county," Scott said. "It's an industrial installation and as they came into the county, made requests for water, made requests for the electric hookups, and they've made requests for county tax abatements."

Scott said the project could generate more tax revenue than any previous development in the county.

"It's a multibillion-dollar project that is going to bring in more money into this county than any other project ever before," Scott said. "So having that tax revenue and being able to do good things in the county is the benefits that it'll bring."

As far as what the added revenue would go towards, Scott told ABC 17 News that county leaders have already identified several priorities. 

"We have made requests of them. Some specific requests," Scott said. "Primary among them is donating to a brand new emergency operations center and 911 operations center that we're looking to build for the county. Our emergency planning, our GIS databasing will be housed there as well as a brand new state-of-the-art 911 call center, which is an upgrade that this county has needed for a very long time."

Job impacts are another major part of the proposal. Crusoe estimates more than 2,000 construction jobs during the build-out, although Scott said not all of those workers would come from the local area. Once operational, each building is expected to employ more than 35 full-time workers in engineering, IT operations and security.

The company advertises an average salary of about $89,700 for those positions, which it says is significantly higher than the county's current average wage. Crusoe also projects additional indirect job creation from the development.

Water, power and noise concerns

However, like most data center projects, water and energy usage remain among the biggest concerns raised by residents.

Crusoe has pledged to invest more than $9 million in upgrades to local water infrastructure, with the operational water demand per building similar to that of roughly 10 to 11 households.

"A lot of the concerns that are valid concerns nationally are around water use, rates going up, and irresponsible use," Alu said. "A lot of that is based on old technology using what's called an evaporative cooling system, essentially a giant swamp cooler that then just evaporates millions and millions of gallons a day. Crusoe does not use that."

The company says the two-building campus would draw an amount of water comparable to about 21 U.S. homes using a closed-loop cooling system that limits ongoing water consumption.

Jeremy Lefevre, a spokesperson for Missourians for Data and Technology Advancement, said the cooling technology should ease many of the concerns surrounding water use.

"A lot of times people hear about the amount of water that the old data centers consumed because of cooling," Lefevre said. "This is going to be a unique new way to do it. It's going to have a closed-loop system that consumes the smallest amount of water. People hear, maybe a million gallons a year. That's a little less than half of an inch of rainfall on a hundred acres. And so the amount of water that these new systems are going to use is really small. Great for the environment and it's going to alleviate a lot of those concerns. So I'm excited about that for this project."

On sound and lighting, Crusoe says the project is designed to meet local and state noise limits using acoustic modeling, low-noise equipment and enclosures around backup generators. Plans also call for warm-spectrum, downward-facing LED lighting with timers and motion sensors to reduce impacts on nearby properties.

"I think once people get to understand what's happening a little bit better, their concerns are alleviated," Lefevre said. "It's change, it's different. That's always going to be difficult. But I think the more information we get out there, the better it is for people."

Scott acknowledged much of the public criticism has come through social media but said county leaders have also heard support from residents.

"Of course, the people on social media have been negative and that's the loudest message you hear," Scott said. "But we do receive phone calls, emails and personal messages when we're out in the community of people that are supporting us."

Mixed reactions to the project

Residents who attended Tuesday's open house expressed mixed opinions after hearing the presentation.

"I'm very much against it for quite a few reasons," Fulton resident Valerie Larm said. "One of the main reasons is the power that they use is going to come directly off the grid. They will not have their own source of power. I do not like the 200 acres that they're taking away from farmland and the animals in Missouri and that type of thing."

After seeing more details, Larm said some concerns had eased, but not all.

"I'm still skeptical," she said. "The noise level they talk about maybe not quite as bad as what it was being projected, but it still sounds like it would be a problem if you lived in the area."

New Bloomfield resident Susie Woods said she believes more research is needed before projects like this move forward.

"AI data centers are a huge issue in this country right now, and I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse because we really don't know what the health results are, what the wildlife results are, the effect on people," Woods said. "And I think that studies need to be done before these humongous buildings are built."

Woods also questioned the proposed tax incentives.

"These AI data companies come in, and they want huge tax abatements," Woods said. "Many of our Callaway County businesses have paid full taxation, and why would we let a company come in at an 85% tax abatement, which is what has been proposed? I do not think that's right. I think that is way too much and I don't know why they shouldn't pay their fair share."

Others left the meeting feeling more comfortable with the proposal.

Fulton business owner Seth Weinger said the presentation addressed many of his concerns.

"It addressed several things that I was concerned about. First and foremost was population density. How close is it to where other people live? It's very remote. I've talked to people that are in that kind of the closest, a half mile away, and people I know that are residents and they said not a problem for us,” Weinger said. "If we can add several thousand temporary workers and another 100 permanent workers, that will be one cog in helping build a bigger tax revenue for our county. So from that standpoint, this is a very big win.” 

Before construction can begin, Scott said Crusoe still must receive approval from the local water district and electric utility to ensure they can meet the project's needs, while also negotiating proposed tax abatements with the county.

"From a county standpoint, they think that we get a vote yes or no, or that we can stop it. We cannot," Scott said. “We don't tell pizza shops what kind of pizzas they can make or where they can go. We don't tell car washers they can or can't open and that sort of thing. It's another business coming into the county and we have to make the best of it that we can."