St. Louis pushes $3.1 billion tech district amid data-center controversy

St. Louis is seeking to reinvent itself as a regional technology hub by developing the privately funded Armory Innovation District, a $3.1 billion project that will repurpose the long-vacant Armory building and add a 525,000-sq-ft hyperscale data center. The data center, a 120-megawatt facility co-developed by San Francisco-based TeraWatt Infrastructure, is promoted as the district’s anchor, promising more than 1,000 temporary union construction jobs and 200 permanent positions, plus $432 million in tax revenue over ten years.

Supporters argue the center will boost middle-class employment and housing demand, while opponents claim it poses health, environmental and utility-rate risks, filing a lawsuit to block the conditional-use permit. TeraWatt responded with its own suit, contesting the Board of Adjustment’s renewable-energy and community-benefits requirements. The city has recently passed legislation establishing buffer zones, noise limits and renewable-energy transition mandates for future data-center projects. The dispute highlights broader tensions over AI-driven data-infrastructure expansion and local economic development.