Little Rock, big data center.
A 300,000 sq ft (27,870 sqm) data center costing $1 billion has been proposed for Little Rock, Arkansas.
The city’s board of directors approved the development this week, giving the company promoting the plan, Willowbend Capital LLC, permission to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it has agreed with Little Rock’s mayor, Frank Scott Jr., authorizing the project, at Little Rock Port.
Willowbend Capital is representing an unnamed company that will finance and build the data center. The MoU says it will create up to 50 jobs, and that the site could be expanded if the economic conditions are right.
Speaking at the board on Tuesday, where the development was approved, Scott said: “There was a lot of work to get us this point. We can’t say much about it except for it’s a big deal.”
As an incentive to build the data center, the memorandum of understanding gives the developer a 65 percent reduction in property tax for 30 years.
Though the company behind the scheme has not been named, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette noted similarities between the application and another development in Conway, north of Little Rock. This is being promoted by Forgelight Ventures LLC, a company incorporated by Michael Montfort, who is also listed as the incorporator of Willowbend Capital.
Arkansas has traditionally had a very limited data center market, with colo operator TierPoint and local ISPs Brightspeed, Cox, and Windstream all having facilities in the state. The likes of TW Telecom, MSP Mainstream Technologies, and blockchain firm Sollensys also operate in Little Rock.
Earlier this month, the state expanded the tax breaks it offers to data centers, lowering the qualifying investment threshold from $500 million to $100m.
