Panattoni Proposes 900-Acre Data Center Campus in Burgin, Kentucky

A massive data center campus is being planned outside Lexington, Kentucky, marking a significant expansion of the state’s digital infrastructure. The project, code-named Project Bluegrass, is being developed by Panattoni Data Centers, a division of the global industrial real estate firm Panattoni Development. The proposed campus would sit on 900 acres northwest of the small town of Burgin, roughly 28 miles southwest of Lexington, and is expected to include four buildings, according to a presentation shared by Burgin interim city council member Scott McCoy earlier this month.

To address environmental and utility concerns, the site will employ a closed-loop cooling system to minimize water consumption. Panattoni has also committed to covering any transmission upgrade costs associated with the project, a move that could ease infrastructure burdens on local grids. City officials are currently considering the annexation of about 500 acres of land into Burgin to accommodate the development. The first reading of the annexation proposal received a favorable but not unanimous vote from officials earlier this month, indicating some local debate over the project’s scale.

“We appreciate the thoughtful approach officials are taking and are happy to follow the established public process. Projects of this scale benefit from careful review, and we look forward to continuing to work with local leaders and the community as the process moves forward,” a Panattoni spokesperson told local press, including Spectrum News 1.

Founded in 1986 as an industrial real estate firm, Panattoni Development has built around 625 million square feet of office, logistics, and industrial space in the U.S. alone. In August 2024, the company announced it would begin developing data centers in North America, setting a target of 1 GW of capacity by 2030. That business unit is known to be targeting additional projects in Wisconsin and Michigan. Globally, Panattoni reports a pipeline totaling 5 GW across 20 countries, with approximately 2 GW currently under development. The Burgin proposal underscores the rapid pace of data center construction across the U.S., particularly in regions with available land and access to power, as demand from cloud computing and AI workloads continues to surge.