Mayor moves to delay vote on Armory data center project as St. Louis mulls zoning rules

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer has intervened to delay a committee vote on a proposed $3 billion data center project in the Midtown area, near the historic Armory building. The Board of Aldermen's Board of Public Service was scheduled to vote on the proposal, which had received a do-pass recommendation after a conditional use hearing. Mayor Spencer, along with her press secretary Rasmus Jorgensen, stated that the postponement is necessary to allow the city to thoroughly review potential conditions and "iron out new rules for data centers." This comes as the city's Planning and Urban Design Agency is developing a new zoning framework that would restrict where different types of data centers can be built and impose stricter requirements for conditional use permits and operations. The developers, identified as Contour, TeraWatt, THO Investments, Steadfast City, ARCO, and Lewis Rice, plan a 120-megawatt hyperscale facility at the adjacent Macy’s/Famous-Barr warehouse property, integrated into a larger technology hub at the Armory. The current proposal follows a previous $1.5 billion data center plan in the Armory's parking lot that faced significant public backlash, with opponents speaking for hours at a recent conditional use hearing, urging the city to reject such projects. The Mayor emphasized the sensitivity of the issue, acknowledging that the outcome will set a precedent for future data center developments in St. Louis. Developers have previously stated they would not seek tax abatements for the project, which they estimate could generate nearly $78 million in first-year taxes and fees.