Developer THO Investments has not answered a 44-question city survey on the $1.5 billion Armory data center proposal more than three months after receiving it, stalling the conditional use permit process.
The new rules in St. Louis now force data center developers to disclose power draw, jobs, and environmental impact upfront, plus hold public hearings and prove no harm to public welfare before building.
Silence from the developer signals either major redesign or reluctance to expose specifics like megawatt demand, water use, and actual headcount, which are often weak points in AI data center business cases.
Local opposition is organized and vocal, with over 13,000 signatures and groups explicitly targeting “AI data centers,” which raises the political risk profile for any GPU-heavy build in the city.
City officials appear willing to slow or reshape projects rather than rubber-stamp “economic development machine” narratives, which could constrain large-scale AI infrastructure in urban St. Louis.
At the same time, Missouri state leaders continue to promote regional data centers as economic drivers, creating a state–city tension that developers will try to navigate.
This piece is worth a close read if you care about how community pressure and stricter permitting can materially delay or derail urban AI data center builds.
Source: Armory data center developers haven’t answered questions | STLPR
