Kehoe: Amazon to invest $10 billion in Montgomery County data center project

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Amazon will spend about $10 billion to create a data center in Montgomery County, including millions for infrastructure and other local projects, according to Gov. Mike Kehoe's office.

Kehoe was at a groundbreaking for the project in Montgomery City on Monday. In a news release after the event, Kehoe's office stated the $10 billion includes more than $1 million for a "community gathering space" at the county fairgrounds, $3 million for community programs, a $150,000 grand fund for community projects and a previously reported $3 million for emergency dispatching services.

The campus will be built on about 1,000 acres north of Interstate 70 between New Florence and High Hill.

Amazon is in line for nearly $1 billion in property tax breaks.

Kehoe's office says the project will create 400 direct jobs and thousands of construction jobs.

"Montgomery County estimates this investment will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new property tax revenue over the next 25 years," the governor's office stated in the news release.

Amazon is working with the company Arable Labs to implement new technology to help farmers with irrigation and reduce the amount of water wasted, the release states.

Water use is one complaint aired by local residents at public meetings on the project. Other complaints include the high power loads required by data centers and the use of productive farmland for the project.