City board OK's permits for $3B data center, office project in Midtown

The St. Louis Board of Public Service has given final approval to conditional use permits for a proposed $3 billion data center and office project. The development, which will transform the former Famous-Barr warehouse into a data center and the neighboring Armory building into office space on Market Street, is slated to be fully operational by the end of 2028. The board's decision followed a request from Mayor Cara Spencer's administration last month to table the proposals, allowing for the negotiation of significantly strengthened conditions and their enforceability. Mayor Spencer stated that while she shares concerns about data centers, the project's estimated first-year tax revenue of $27.4 million for the city and $33.4 million for St. Louis Public Schools was a compelling factor for its approval, especially with the inclusion of a separate community benefits agreement. The approved conditions are extensive, focusing on environmental and operational sustainability. These include mandates to use a closed-loop system and air-cooled chillers to minimize water consumption, fund a hydraulic model study to assess and mitigate any detrimental water impacts, and pay any new data center-specific water rates. Additionally, the data center must source at least 50% of its energy from renewable sources within five years of commencing operations and maintain a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25 or better (or 1.35 if repurposing over 50% of the existing building). The developer is also required to annually report waste heat and never use on-site generators as a primary power source. Further conditions dictate that noise-emitting equipment, including backup generators, must be acoustically treated and placed away from primary frontages. Generator testing is restricted to specific hours and prohibited on bad air quality days, with battery storage encouraged to minimize reliance on diesel. The project must incorporate cool, green, and/or rooftop photovoltaic solar panels to reduce urban heat impacts and provide landscaping/screening. Under the community benefits agreement, the developer will not seek local abatement for either project, will fully disclose tenants (barring national security implications), and will not lease to tenants primarily engaged in crypto-mining.