Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a real estate firm based in Houston, has presented early plans for a project codenamed “Project Bluestem” that would bring a large data center, perhaps with at least 600 megawatts of capacity, near Tonganoxie Business Park, off 24 Highway and Kansas Avenue.
The company has not filed any formal plans for the project, and exact details about its location and scope are to be announced. It remains conceptual at this time.
But Cloverleaf, which targets and prepares properties for data center development before finalizing their future builder and user, works with local government and utilities to work out needed approvals and agreements.
Cloverleaf works with firms like Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI — which may shed light on what could be proposed in Leavenworth County.
Project Bluestem comes as officials say a new state law passed last year, which offers sales tax breaks on data center construction, was the ingredient needed to drive data center development in Kansas. Bluestem itself would be expected to make use of the program, which offers 20-year sales tax breaks specifically for large data centers.
“Kansas is actually very, very late to the data center growth pattern,” Paul Hughes, who works on megaprojects for the state commerce department, told Leavenworth County officials at a meeting last week.
Tech companies have pursued new data centers in communities large and small across the country to meet infrastructure needs and demand tied to the growth of artificial intelligence, while local governments tout new jobs, both to build and operate the campuses, and huge windfalls in new tax revenue from the developments, even with massive tax breaks.
But as data center development ramps up in Missouri and Kansas, so has opposition from local residents and organizers, who express a wide range of concerns about how data centers could impact the environment, property values, health, comfort and lifestyle, utility bills, energy and water use and more while questioning the small number of jobs created after construction and if their communities are really getting a good deal.
“I want to be clear, this is not opposition to economic development,” said Jim Karleskint of Tonganoxie, a former state legislator and school superintendent. “It is opposition to imbalanced development that shifts costs onto residents, school and local infrastructure, and offering limited long-term benefit.”
Local residents have organized on a Facebook page called Tongie Data Center WatchDog Group.
Evergy says data centers could actually help residential rates
Meanwhile, officials say the data center industry has changed, and at least some of the public’s concerns have been addressed.
Of note is whether the investment in power infrastructure needed to serve electricity-intensive data centers could raise costs for regular users.
“I’m not here to tell you that data centers haven’t raised rates in different parts of the country,” said Chuck Caisley, executive vice president of utility operations for Evergy, pointing to states like Texas and Illinois.
But Evergy saw that coming and worked on the issue as larger data centers started coming to Missouri and Kansas, he said.
“We’ve got a different story here over the last decade,” he said.
And regulators in both states approved a plan last year for sites using 75 megawatts of power or more, including hyperscale data centers, that charges higher rates and requires collateral to secure payments alongside early termination fees.
Evergy officials have said that while the need to upgrade and repair aging infrastructure could mean higher costs, the money and resources large data centers would put into the system could flatten the rate of increase for residential customers.
Announced Evergy projects have included new natural gas plants in Kansas.
According to the Project Bluestem website, the project will be required to pay for any transmission upgrades and new facilities for power generation.
Company eyeing Tonganoxie data center says no NDAs
Aaron Bilyeu, chief development officer for Cloverleaf, said the company specializes in large data center campuses and works to find utilities that understand data centers to put in places that can support their development.
“I fully understand everyone’s concerns about data centers, about power use, about sound, about noise, about light, about transparency. What I tell people is that those are all 100% true, from the past,” Bilyeu said.
But, he said, the industry has since learned how to address those issues and improve practices around data centers, such as where they are located to buffer their impact on nearby residents.
Cloverleaf does not yet know who the client would be for the proposed data center project.
It would be expected to create 100 or more jobs for the facility, while an agreement would be expected to include the future developer making investments in the local community. Project Bluestem is also expected to create over 1,000 construction jobs.
Cloverleaf is waiting for final determination from Evergy about how much power the site would be able to use, which could impact the number of jobs.
Bilyeu says the site will use a closed-loop water system for cooling, or one that is filled only one time, meaning day-to-day water use for toilets, sinks and so on would be similar to a small office building.
He said companies wouldn’t be coming to Kansas without the new state tax breaks.
And, Cloverleaf says, it doesn’t sign non-disclosure agreements with local governments.
Project Bluestem joins more possible new data centers in Kansas City area
Project Bluestem isn’t the only massive data center under consideration in the broader Kansas City metro.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development announced Tuesday that Metrobloks, a California-based company, is planning a $1.4 billion data center in Liberty.
The Independence City Council recently signed off on financing for a new data center for Nebius, a Dutch AI services company, which will include bringing an old power plant back online.
The Independence plan includes more than $6 billion in tax breaks, but is expected to still generate many millions of dollars in new revenue each year for the city and schools.
Residents have sued Independence to allow a referendum process, which could lead to a public vote on the plan. The city has said a referendum is not legal in this case under the city’s charter.
And The KC Pulse reported Revitalization Unlimited is considering a high-rise data center in downtown Kansas City that could include demolishing an existing historic building.
Concerns linger in Leavenworth County, too.
“We’re not, and never have been, against smart development, thoughtful development,” area resident and artist John Hulsey said at the meeting. “Developments driven by the community, not by some outside forces, corporations or billionaires who are not stakeholders here. In fact, they have nothing to do with us here.”
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