The deal — approved Tuesday at the parish’s first Industrial Development Board meeting — creates a new revenue structure unique to the parish. The board, formed last week as a nonprofit public corporation, allows the parish to collect payments in lieu of traditional property taxes, a plan known as Payment in Lieu of Taxes or PILOT. Parish officials say it will generate more revenue than Louisiana’s standard tax incentive programs.
The board, which was approved by the Parish Council, consists of representatives from the parish’s three largest taxing authorities: Sheriff Brian Spillman, School Superintendent Hollis Milton and former councilman Clay Pensen. Each entity is expected to receive roughly one-third of the revenue.
“This is a tremendous new industry for Louisiana, Parish President Kenny Havard said. "It’s going to be our next oil boom.”
Project Details
Hut 8 operates 15 Bitcoin mining and data center sites across the U.S. and Canada. It also owns an 80% stake in American Bitcoin, a company formed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and serves as its exclusive infrastructure and operating partner.
Hut 8 purchased a 611-acre tract off La. 964 in February and began site work in August, when Entergy started building an electrical substation and switchyard. Construction is expected to finish in 2026, with full operations starting in 2027.
“They intend to build a data center providing computing services primarily for artificial intelligence,” Parish Attorney Dannie Garrett said.
Garrett estimates the project’s total value at between $8 billion and $10 billion, with roughly 75% of that tied to AI computing infrastructure using Graphics Processing Units — specialized electronic circuits that have become central to training and operating Artificial Intelligence. Those GPUs are also the key to the parish’s revenue structure.
How the Deal Will Work
Instead of paying property taxes on the facility, Hut 8 will donate its 611-acre site to the IDB. The board will then lease the property back to the company, charging rent equal to what property taxes on the GPUs would have been.
“The tax break they are getting on building is what's facilitating them bringing the entire $10 billion project here.” Garrett said.
Garrett added the parish assessor will determine the values of the GPUs annually, and that first-year estimates could reach $7.5 billion to $8 billion, translating into about $90 million in lease payments.
“If they depreciate, that number will drop, but that’s just like any other property,” he said.
A planned second phase, expected to be completed in three to five years, would add another 600,000-square-foot building and additional GPUs. Under that phase, Hut 8 would pay 50% of the equivalent property tax value, potentially generating an additional $30 million to $40 million a year, Garrett said.
Revenue will flow through the IDB and be distributed among parish entities, with the Sheriff’s Office, School Board, and Parish Government each receiving about $30 million annually. Other beneficiaries include the library, the fire board and the 911 district.
“You have in place an IDB that has an incentive to do what's right,” Garrett said. “Nobody has to worry about getting hamstrung.”
Garrett said the agreement’s 30-year term ensures long-term revenue while tying payments to the assessor’s yearly valuations. An additional 30-year term would cover the project’s second phase.
Broader Impact
Harvard and Garett both said the deal avoids the pitfalls of Louisiana’s traditional Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which grants 80% property tax exemptions, and differs from other data center deals like Meta’s in Richland Parish, because it was negotiated without involving the State’s Department of Economic Development.
Because of a recent state law, Hut 8 won't be required to pay sales taxes on construction and equipment, which may have prompted the local leaders to design the new structure to capture revenue.
“We sell ourselves short and we always have, said Havard, who negotiated directly with Hut 8. “I didn’t want to do that … if our tax structure in Louisiana is so damn broken that we have to invent schemes to bring people here, then fix the whole tax system.”
The site, located near the River Bend Nuclear Power Plant, has easy access to both natural gas and transmission lines, making it ideal for an energy-intensive operation. It initially drew controversy this spring after several members of the Port Commission accused Havard of orchestrating a deal where the parish undersold part of the land to a local firm, M/V industrial, which they claim then sold the property for 20 times the original price to Hut 8. Those claims have not been corroborated.
“M/V Industrial took a chance on West Feliciana,” Havard said. “They had no idea Hut 8 would show up to the party.”
Hut 8 plans to generate revenues by leasing computing services to a client who has not yet been disclosed. First payments to the parish are projected for mid-2027, though earlier disbursements are possible.
Havard said the parish first plans to use its new revenue to invest in infrastructure, including road widening, a new jail, and other community improvements.
“We built trust with Hut 8 people by being completely transparent,” he said. “They have been a community partner with us from the beginning.”
© 2025 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
