Barber County to finalize data center agreement
Barber County Commissioners are set to meet to finalize an agreement for Google's first data center in Kansas. The project, dubbed "Project Helium," is planned for Sharon, Kansas, and is expected to be a 1.7 million square foot facility, creating 500 permanent jobs and thousands of temporary construction jobs. It could also generate nearly $10 million in annual property taxes for the county.
Barber County, Kansas, is poised to become the home of Google's first data center in the state. The Barber County Commissioners have announced a new meeting to approve the agreement for this significant project, known as "Project Helium."
The proposed data center, which Google plans to build in Sharon, Kansas, approximately eight miles east of Medicine Lodge, will span 1.7 million square feet. It is designed to be air-cooled and is projected to create 500 permanent jobs upon completion, in addition to thousands of temporary jobs during its construction phase.
The economic impact is estimated to be substantial, with the data center expected to generate nearly $10 million in annual property taxes for Barber County alone. This is despite Kansas offering up to 20 years of tax exemption for large-scale data centers. The County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the approval tomorrow at 9:30 AM.