A mother and daughter in Kentucky have refused a massive offer from a developer seeking to buy their farmland for a large data center project.
Ida Huddleston, 82, owns a 71-acre property in Mason County that has been repeatedly targeted by a developer acting on behalf of an unnamed Fortune 100 company. The offer for her land reached $60,000 per acre, bringing the total proposal to about $4.26 million. Huddleston said she has rejected the offer several times and is frustrated by the continued attempts to persuade her to sell.
Her daughter, Delsia Bare, faced a similar proposal for her nearby property. Bare owns 463 acres, and the developer offered $48,000 per acre for the land, which would have totaled more than $22 million. She also declined.
Huddleston said the decision was not about money. She told reporters that she does not want the payment and is more concerned about the impact the project could have on neighbors and the surrounding area.
Both women said they believe the planned data center could change the character of the community. They also pointed to the developer’s refusal to reveal the identity of the company behind the project as a major reason for their distrust and resistance.
Bare said it is difficult to consider a life-altering decision when the company involved will not identify itself. According to her, knowing who is behind the project would be essential for people deciding whether to remain in the area or leave.
The proposed facility would be located along Big Pond Pike Road in rural Mason County, roughly an hour and a half from Lexington. Developers have already contacted several other landowners about purchasing farmland in the area for the project.
Local officials say the data center could bring significant economic growth to the region. Tyler McHugh, economic development director for the Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority, said the project could become one of the county’s largest employers.
Estimates suggest the facility could create about 400 permanent jobs along with more than 1,500 construction jobs during the building phase.
Bare, however, doubts those numbers will hold once construction is complete. She believes the number of long-term positions could be far smaller and that many workers might not even be based locally once the project is finished.
Huddleston said she has no intention of changing her mind. She remains determined to keep her property.
Even if other landowners agree to sell, the project still requires approval from the Mason County Fiscal Court before it can move forward.
The push for large data centers has increasingly reached rural areas across the country. Technology companies are seeking land for facilities that support cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
In Virginia, George Washington University recently sold its Virginia Science and Technology Campus to Amazon Data Services for $427 million, with plans to convert the property into a data center complex.
Microsoft has also been expanding its infrastructure. The company purchased land in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and plans to construct 15 data centers there following the acquisition in 2024.