ROSEMOUNT, Minn. — The University of Minnesota Board of Regents approved the sale of some of its park land where a new, $700 million data center will be built.
It will be one the largest construction projects in Minnesota on 280 acres of land in Rosemount.
The potential deal was kept a secret for a long time, including who was buying the land to start building. Public documents now show Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and Instagram, is the company behind the project.
"It's great for the U, it's great for the state of Minnesota," says Doug Huebsh, UMN Regent Co-Vice Chair. "It's not often you can get a $700 million investment coming into Minnesota with a company like Meta."
The U of M acquired UMore Park, where the data center will be located, from the federal government in 1947. There are 7,100 acres and, for decades, the U of M has tried to develop parcels of the land. Currently, there is the new construction of hundreds of townhomes and a mining operation. The proceeds of any sale go to the UMore Park legacy fund that supports teaching and research.
The proposed data center will run 24/7 and be full of networking and communication equipment for the purpose of collecting, storing, processing, distributing, or allowing access to large amounts of data. Data centers can store and index websites, run e-mail and instant messaging services, provide cloud storage, and enable a host of other capabilities.
Xcel Energy will be providing the electricity and Meta expects the data center will support at least 50 full-time onsite jobs. Additionally, there will be another 1,000 construction jobs during the construction period.
"Executing a transaction of this nature and magnitude has involved many partners and it has been a team effort," said UMN Planning, Space, and Real Estate Assistant Vice President Leslie Krueger. "I appreciate all the support we've received."
Now that the Regents approved the land purchase, construction is expected to start next year and take two to five years.