Ryan Knudson

And Will says that probably nowhere in the U.S.

has the backlash been more intense than in this one Missouri town called Festus.

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knudson.

It's Thursday, May 7th.

Coming up on the show, small town versus big data center.

You cover real estate, so how did data centers become such a big part of your beat?

Because data centers are hot property.

Developers usually secure the location of a data center first and then strike a deal with the tech company that would use it.

While there's been a boom in construction, there's also been a boom in backlash, which is what brought Will to Festus.

Will says a developer called CRG had originally been looking to build in another St.

Louis suburb.

But that project faced local opposition and fell apart.

So they tried a different area nearby.

The developers saw potential in a 300-acre plot of land outside of Festus and approached the city with a proposal for a $6 billion data center.

And city leadership was interested.

And why did the elected officials support it?

The proposed data center is projected to generate about as much tax revenue as the city's entire budget, money that could potentially be used on stuff like schools and roads.

But before they could break ground, the city and the developer needed to take some steps.

Some residents were against it from the start.