Osawatomie, KS is courting a $1 billion, 600,000 sq. ft data center campus on 115 acres, with a three-year exclusive pre-development deal for Alcove Development.
The city is offering 50% property tax abatement for 10 years, industrial revenue bonds, and committing to supply 150 MW of power plus 1 million gallons of water per day, with 5 MW in renewable energy credits tied to a nearby solar array.
This is a classic rural AI data center play: big capex, relatively few long-term jobs (60–90 FTEs), and heavy dependence on local power, water rights, and grid upgrades.
City leadership frames it as a needed shift from an 80% residential tax base to commercial, while residents are focused on light pollution, water use, grid strain, property values, and opaque process.
Operationally, the city claims its water rights and planned plant upgrades can support the load and insists the hyperscale user will absorb incremental utility costs, not local ratepayers.
The project still needs a special use permit and can be dropped by the developer at any time, so this is early-stage land and incentives positioning more than a locked-in AI facility.
Worth a read for how small municipalities are trading tax breaks and scarce resources to chase AI-driven data center deals and the community pushback that follows.
Source: Rural Miami County, Kansas residents respond to $1 billion data center proposal
