KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Social media company Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has announced plans to build an $800 million data center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Business and political leaders gathered at Union Station for the announcement on Thursday.
"When you start seeing companies come here and make a footprint, that means other people are going to follow," Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said.
The facility will be located east of Kansas City International Airport near U.S. 169 and Interstate 435 in the Northland.
According to Meta officials, the project will bring 100 new jobs to the area and up to 1,300 construction jobs at its peak.
"Kansas City was a no-brainer for us. It has so much to offer, access to shovel ready sites, access to reliable infrastructure, great workforce and as we heard today wonderful local partnerships that really makes the difference for us," Darcy Nothnagle of Meta explained.
Incentives played a role in bringing the social media company according to state officials. A spokesperson for Parson said Meta could get up to nearly $1.8 billion in sales and use tax exemptions over the next 15 years as part of the Data Center Sales Tax Exemption Program.
However, officials noted the incentives are performance based and that the actual amount will depend on Meta's investment.
Steven Anthony with the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City said the biggest benefit for the public is the prosperity large companies like Meta bring to the state and local area.
"There's a lot of different companies that will benefit from this. Small businesses will benefit from it because data centers sort of attract other data centers and they're building out the infrastructure of information technology in the area," Anthony said.
Meta officials said the project will be supported by 100% renewable energy.
The data center is expected to be finished by 2024.
