Discussions continue behind the scenes on the Flint Hills Digital Campus, the proposed 1,000-acre data center for west Emporia.
Project spokesman Garrett Nordstrom, KVOE’s Newsmaker guest Thursday, couldn’t give specifics on the number or the names of potential end users, but he says due diligence is taking place on both sides of the conversation. He also says Kanza Park Place, the official developer, has reached tentative agreements with Emporia city leadership on many concerns mentioned by data center opponents as the process has continued.
Nordstrom says developers have taken pains to take concerns and criticisms into account as the project moves towards a development agreement.
Having said that, Nordstrom says these components aren’t the development agreement that has been mentioned as critical to determining who could be end user — or if the project moves forward to construction. Nordstrom anticipates an end user will be announced before the development agreement details are finalized.
Nordstrom says very little has changed with the overall plan, notably with the utility usage or campus layout. Following the construction stage, ongoing employment may be around 250 at maximum. One thing that is changing is the early focus on a master developer, meaning Gary Pinkston, the originally-announced lead developer, and Pinkston’s daughters may be stepping away from the Digital Campus as things continue.
During the Emporia City Commission meeting this week, City Manager Trey Cocking mentioned a possibility of a $500 million increase in assessed value. Nordstrom says the construction phase could see an investment to the tune of $3 billion. Mentioning concerns about tax abatement policy, Nordstrom also says the full abatement packages commonplace across Kansas 10-20 years ago aren’t as common now.
Nordstrom says the Digital Campus is “one of the most valuable” data center proposals in the country, crediting Emporia as the big reason why. Social media challenges to the Digital Center aren’t slowing down the interest from outside, with “almost every end user in the country” taking a look.
A major question now is whether the data center effort will end after the November general election, with voters asked to decide whether to ban high-impact data centers for a decade and whether to ban the battery energy storage systems often connected to data centers.
While those conversations continue, Nordstrom says there have also been discussions about “load ramps,” or increases in electricity as different components are added like cooling systems, information technology, servers and the like.
At this time, there is no word on when an end user agreement will be selected.
