DE SOTO, KAN. — Beale Infrastructure, a San Francisco-based owner-operator of data centers and other tech infrastructural properties, has unveiled plans for Project Pilot, a $3 billion data center campus in De Soto, about 30 miles west of Kansas City. Construction of the first phase is set to begin in May.
According to Beale, the project, which is ultimately planned to feature four buildings totaling approximately 1 million square feet, represents the first hyperscale data center to be announced in the state of Kansas. The company also stated that the project would add “hundreds” of construction jobs and 50 permanent operational roles to the local economy.
Beale has partnered with local utility provider Evergy to provide power for the campus and facilitate infrastructural development. An end user was not announced, but Beale said that upon completion, the campus would “host a large technology company contracted via a long-term lease.”
According to Data Center Dynamics (DCD), affiliates of Beale first purchased the 290-acre site last fall, around the same time that the City of De Soto approved construction. DCD also reports that the city “approved property tax and sales tax exemptions on up to $50 billion in industrial revenue bonds, which are bonds issued by governments on behalf of private enterprises.”
Beale Infrastructure is backed by New York City-based private equity firm Blue Owl Capital. Blue Owl’s stock price opened at $9.13 per share on Thursday, April 30, down about 50 percent from roughly $18 per share a year ago.
- Taylor Williams