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Louisville Courier Journal
This story has been updated with new information from Oldham County Planning and Development Director Ryan Fischer.
A $6 billion data center in Oldham County is being planned according to a local official and a press release sent out by the Louisville public relations firm RunSwitch PR.
If built, the project would represent one of the largest private investments in Kentucky’s history, potentially rivaling the $5.8 billion BlueOval SK Battery Park in Hardin County.
According to a press release dated March 28, a company called WHP announced the project, which was first reported by the Oldham Era, and is called “Project Lincoln: OC Data Center.”
The press release did not provide further information about the company.
Asked by The Courier Journal what the company did, and whether the initials stood for “Western Hospitality Partners” as reported by the Oldham Era, RunSwitch PR partner Gary Gerdemann said: “They go by WHP as the full name is not relevant to the project. I don’t have more details on WHP to share right now.”
However, Oldham County Planning and Development Director Ryan Fischer later told The Courier Journal Western Hospitality Partners - Kentucky LLC was the company applying for the data center.
According to the Kentucky Secretary of State's website and Fischer, the company has a Bergenfield, New Jersey business address.
The project is being planned on a 267-acre plot of land at 3557 North Highway 53, almost three miles northwest of downtown La Grange and about 30 miles from downtown Louisville.
According to promotional materials provided alongside the press release, 75% of the plot will “be preserved as green and open space.”
Fischer said plans called for eight buildings with a total area of about 2.5 million square feet.
When completed, the data center will create more than 150 on-site jobs and more than 400 “indirect jobs throughout the broader community,” the press release states.
The press release added the data center, once operational, will generate tens of millions of dollars in county taxes and the project is expected to “spur an estimated $4 billion economic impact” in Oldham County.
“Data centers have quickly become essential to today’s modern economy, supporting digital services like websites, apps, cloud storage, artificial intelligence and streaming platforms,” the press release said. “Project Lincoln: OC Data Center will be home to servers that will store, analyze and distribute data that will support everything from cloud computing to internet services to enterprise software applications and data analytics.”
Oldham County’s former director of Planning and Development Services Jim Urban is a consultant on the project.
“This project helps strengthen America’s position as a global technology leader,” he said in the press release. “Oldham County will be proud to host this development in that effort. My participation will assure that the data campus exceeds requirements, addresses all concerns and benefits the entire community while preserving everyone’s quality of life.”
Data centers have proliferated across the country in recent years amid the central position internet technology has taken in modern life. However, they have faced backlash in some areas over their large footprints, electricity requirements, noise and appearance.
In January, plans for a “hyperscale” data center on 150 acres in southwestern Louisville were announced. That project was expected to have an investment “in the billions” according to Hank Hillebrand, president of Poe Companies, which announced the Louisville data center alongside Virginia-based PowerHouse Data Centers.
Oldham County Planning and Development's Technical Review Committee will hold a meeting on the planned data center on April 16.
No decisions are made at those meetings, Fischer said, but act as an opportunity for "all of the agencies that have anything to do with the project come and provide their comments to the developer, the applicant, of technical things that are on the plans that maybe they've overlooked."
He added if there are comments from agencies — like the local fire department — about things they need to change, they "may have to go back and redo their plans somewhat."
After any changes are made, the plans would then go before the board of adjustments.
Fischer said he anticipated some local opposition to the project.
"This is on a two-lane highway. There's farms and large acreage houses out there. That's going to be a big sticking point for the people who live out there and I think their comments on social media have already sort of gone that way," he said.
Reach reporter Josh Wood at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno.