KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan obtained the first renderings of a potential data center in Osawatomie, Kansas, through a Kansas Open Records request. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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KSHB 41 News Miami County reporter Ryan Gamboa obtained the first copy of renderings of a potential data center in rural Miami County through a Kansas Open Records request.
Earlier this year, the Osawatomie City Council entered into a predevelopment agreement with Alcove Development, based in Lawrence, Kansas, for a 600,000-square-foot data center.
The project is expected to cost upwards of $1 billion.
"In my mind, residents of Osawatomie should be cheerleading for this project," City Manager Bret Glendening told Gamboa on Monday. "Our primary goal is to grow our tax base."
The three-year development agreement with Alcove Development gives them priority to survey the property to see if it can find the property suitable for a data center.
MORE | Read the predevelopment agreement
The developer pays a small fee in return and has exclusive development rights for three and a half years.
The city will offer Industrial Revenue Bonds for sales tax exemption on construction materials, according to the predevelopment documents.
The property will receive a 50% tax abatement for 10 years, with the potential for additional incentives for infrastructure, expedited permitting and workforce programs.
The project is expected to bring about 350 construction jobs over a two-year period. About 90 full-time employees will work at the data center once it's built and operating.
Property tax generation on a development this large is expected to provide property tax relief to residents within city limits, according to city leaders.
"The benefits it can bring to this community, and the types of tax relief all of us who pay taxes inside the city of Osawatomie stand to gain, I hope that they find the land is suitable and able to move forward," Glendening said.
The city would provide one million gallons of water per day and up to 150 megawatts of power each day.
The module layout of the data center could attract hyperscale cloud providers and colocation operators.
Renderings show the center with six buildings; three stationed on opposite sides of West 335th Street along Osawatomie Road.
Additionally, each individual plot of land would have a 300 megawatt substation and a possible swimming pond.
There are multiple entries that show plans for single-story buildings and others as high as three stories, according to the project renderings.
Its multi-story figures appear to be capacity planning alternatives, not the current design being executed.
City Manager Glendening told KSHB 41 in an email that this rendering is the only layout the city has received from the developer.
The layout has not been reviewed or approved by the planning commission or the city council because it is so early in the process.
"It is merely hypothetical at this point," Glendening wrote.
Gamboa continues to monitor any new developments in this project. He reached out to the developer again, following up on a list of questions, and has not received a response.
Alcove Development has primarily worked on commercial and residential properties, according to its website.
"When we start a project, we’re not just developing, we’re building part of a community," according to the company's statement on its website. "It’s a weighty responsibility. We build in each Kansas community like we live there, because we do. Earning a reputation for reliability is like constructing a building. The quality of the materials determines the quality of the final product. Brick and mortar build a wall. Words and action build a name."
The renderings also show the data center will run parallel with the Osawatomie State Hospital, with a road separating the two.
Residents have expressed concern for the patients in the psychiatric hospital.
Gamboa reached out to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services for comment, but has not heard back.
This project is not finalized, and the location is only being evaluated to see if it's suitable for a project of this scale.
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