KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of Kansas City's largest developments in 2025 is well underway in the Northland — the Google data center campus.
But what is a data center and why are so many building their sites in Kansas City?
KSHB 41's Isabella Ledonne is working to find out those answers and learn what these massive investments mean for our community.
Almost everything in the 21st century runs on data, from computers to phones to even your smartwatch.
Just because you can't physically see the internet, it's hard to miss the giant buildings that will help keep the Kansas City area online.
"All of that information has to be stored somewhere," Steven Anthony said. "Many people think about this cloud, you think about all the different areas you have to store information. It's developed into these data centers so all of that information is stored within those types of facilities."
Anthony is the vice president of business development with the Economic Development Council of Kansas City.
He explained data centers are a growing need in a growing digital society.
"People are constantly on their phones, people are constantly utilizing this information," Anthony said. "The data centers are constantly running, 24/7."
KSHB 41 News went into nearby neighborhoods to Google's data center campus and asked residents if they knew what was going up right outside their backyard.
Our data showed not many knew what actually happens inside these centers.
Some like Shuteh McGovern wonder what it could mean for her home's energy.
"Do they have backups to where it doesn't affect this neighborhood?" McGovern asked.
Other neighbors are excited to see Kansas City grow it's tech footprint.
"As far as data centers go, I think it's cool," John Mark Jones said. "I'm excited by anything that puts money into Kansas City, especially near me."
Servers, computers and equipment to regulate the temperature typically fill the walls of data centers.
It's similar to what you would see inside a tech control room for a business, but hundreds of times the size of your average server room.
Anthony explained that's why companies are eyeing the Midwest and Kansas City.
"When you think about what data centers need, they need land and they need utilities," Anthony said. "On the coasts, you're running into a situation where a lot of that is becoming more condensed and it's a lot harder to find in those areas."
As we step into a bigger digital footprint, data companies need bigger shoes with room to grow.
"That's why the Midwest is even more attractive now than it used to be so many years ago," Anthony said. "Kansas City in particular is kind of catching it."
Google's $1 billion campus joins the 19 other data centers in the Kansas City area, including Meta.
"A lot of times data centers are like car lots," Anthony said. "When you see one car lot pop up, there's another one that pops up right next to it because they can also all take advantage of the same infrastructure that's being placed."
Data centers could push Kansas City as a tech hub. Neighbors analyze what that could mean.
"Is the technology going to affect our daily life here?" McGovern said.
Over the next few weeks, we're going to be asking city and company leaders those types of questions, like how the data centers will affect energy supply and the tax incentives for data centers to build in Missouri.
This is the first story in a series of many where we dive deeper into data centers in our hometowns.
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KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.