Key Takeaways

  • Beale Infrastructure's more than $3 billion project positions De Soto within a fast-growing national data center market.
  • Community concerns around power use, environmental impact, and pace of development remain unresolved.
  • Additional interest from Digital Realty signals broader regional momentum despite local political friction.

Beale Infrastructure’s data center campus in De Soto has moved from concept to a tangible development path. The city council’s approval in August 2025 set the foundation for a project that aligns with unprecedented national demand for capacity driven by cloud adoption and generative AI. Construction for the first phase is anticipated to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2027, with a full build-out slated by 2035.

The more than $3 billion campus, planned next to the former Sunflower Ammunition Plant, is designed as a four-building complex. City estimates projected more than $5 million in annual franchise fees once operational, surpassing De Soto’s current property tax revenue. For a city still reinventing itself after the Sunflower site closure reshaped its economic base, that potential revenue stream represents a significant shift.

Mayor Rick Walker described the long-term vision in an interview with KCUR’s Up To Date, noting that the cleanup and redevelopment of the Sunflower area has opened a new chapter. The area's potential to become an economic engine fits broader national employment patterns. The U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that data center employment grew from 306,000 jobs in 2016 to 501,000 jobs in 2023, a more than 60% increase that has reshaped regional labor markets. Analysts note that while these projects rarely create large numbers of permanent roles directly, they frequently catalyze related industrial development.

Market projections from McKinsey indicate global data center capital expenditures will approach $7 trillion by 2030, with more than 40% concentrated in the United States. Demand in the U.S. alone is expected to grow 20% to 25% annually through 2030.

Another data center provider, Digital Realty, is actively eyeing De Soto for a separate campus. The presence of the Panasonic battery plant and its supporting infrastructure has boosted confidence among developers that the region can support large-scale digital facilities.

According to Mordor Intelligence, hyperscale operators have been building aggressively in states such as Texas, where land availability and grid access have made it appealing. That trend has now expanded into Midwestern locations with strong infrastructure backbones.

The community reaction in De Soto contains tension. A local resident has been vocal about the absence of environmental impact studies for the site, pointing out that homes sit close to the proposed development. Data center construction typically involves long-term questions about water usage, load on local electrical grids, noise from cooling systems, and light pollution. Some communities attempt to address these concerns through zoning or conditional land use approvals, but residents argue the project is moving too quickly for proper review.

Data centers already consume about 4.4% of U.S. electricity according to a Brookings summary of findings from LBNL and other researchers, and the expansion of AI workloads is expected to push that number substantially higher. The Department of Energy estimates that national data center load growth has tripled over the last decade and may double or triple again by 2028. For smaller municipalities, the debate centers on balancing economic gain with utility infrastructure strain.

In the broader region, similar debates have escalated. Some municipalities have rejected data center proposals outright, showing how political these developments can become when residents feel excluded from the planning process.

Standards from groups like the IEEE and ASHRAE influence how data centers are designed, cooled, and powered. Operators often optimize around thermal guidelines, energy efficiency metrics, and resource utilization targets to mitigate infrastructure demands, though local residents frequently request clearer communication regarding these technical safeguards.

New municipal revenue sources could support services the city previously could not afford, such as a community center. Whether the project becomes the economic engine the mayor envisions will depend on how construction unfolds in 2026 and 2027, and how developers and the city address evolving requirements for environmental and grid safeguards.