$150 billion Independence AI data center breaks ground, barricades protesters
Before December 2025, many Independence residents had never heard of artificial intelligence data centers, the massive warehouses filled with specialized computer equipment that keeps AI programs running on devices nationwide.
Now, construction has begun on a hyperscale AI data center in the city to the tune of $150 billion and 800 megawatts, shaking up Independence’s political and economic landscape in the process.
Nebius, a Dutch company specializing in AI services, broke ground Tuesday on its flagship U.S. data center off of Bly Road in northeastern Independence. The facility will be about twice the size of Arrowhead Stadium and will draw energy from the former Blue Valley Power Plant nearby, which will reopen in stages at nine times its former capacity to power the data center.
The data center will also benefit from more than $6 billion in tax breaks, including 90-98% discounts on property and materials taxes. In return, city taxing jurisdictions including schools and libraries will receive about $650 million in fees over the next 20 years, while the city will take in between $35 million and $55 million annually in taxes on power and other utilities.
Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony was symbolic, as Nebius still has to submit final building plans to the city.
However, as the data center enters a construction phase that could take five to seven years, representatives from both the city and the company described the project as a turning point for Independence.
“This AI factory represents more than technology,” Independence Chamber of Commerce President Valerie Byrnes said. “It represents opportunity, high-quality jobs, global partnerships, and a vision for what our community can become.
“…This is the project economic developers work for their entire career.”
A corporate partnership
Nebius Chairman John Boynton said Tuesday that the company hopes to forge a closer relationship with the city in the years to come, focusing on job opportunities and educational partnerships. Nebius and the city have also established a community engagement panel to keep residents and business owners involved in ongoing site planning, he said.
Nebius now anticipates hiring about 1,300 construction workers to complete the data center, followed by about 130 permanent employees in specialized tech roles, according to recently elected Councilmember Cody Atkinson.
“We made a promise to the citizens of Independence to ensure our presence benefits this community over the long term, and we will keep that promise,” Boynton said. “But perhaps most importantly, being a good neighbor means staying engaged, not just today, but for years to come.”
Atkinson said that though construction on the site kicked off Tuesday, Nebius’ presence in Independence has already transformed the city’s priorities — and the way residents interact with their local government.
“Projects like this don’t come around very often, especially not here,” Atkinson said. “And honestly, projects that spark this much conversation don’t either.”
As during his recent campaign, Atkinson said Tuesday that Nebius’ presence will allow the city to create or reinstate municipal services that it currently can’t afford to operate.
“Every community in America is trying to answer the same question right now,” Atkinson said. “How do we improve lives when costs keep soaring?”
He named public transit, recreation programs and historic preservation as immediate priorities that the revenue from Nebius could bolster, along with increased services for homeless residents and those struggling with addiction or mental health crises.
“I want to be the kind of city where people want to spend a day, move to, open a business and raise a family,” Atkinson said. “But those things require resources, and projects like this create opportunities.”
Recently appointed City Manager Troy Anderson said that the city’s cooperation with Nebius around the project represents an updated approach to “long-term economic diversification,” intended to stabilize Independence’s economy for decades to come.
Subash Alias, CEO of the statewide economic development agency Missouri Partnership, said that the data center also signals to companies like Nebius on a national level that Missouri will be a welcoming host to similar projects in the future.
Numerous data centers have popped up in the Kansas City area in recent years, with more than ten large data center sites currently in the works. The Nebius site, however, is by far the region’s largest.
“This is a transformational moment for Missouri’s economy and for the future of technology in the state,” Alias said. “Nebius’ decision to invest billions of dollars in Independence is a clear message to the world — this is very important — that Missouri is open for business.”
Newly elected Mayor Kevin King did not speak at Tuesday’s groundbreaking event.
Blocked off from view
The groundbreaking ceremony was marked not only by a row of ceremonial golden shovels, but by a heavy security presence enforced by both public and private agencies.
The Nebius site is monitored both by the Independence Police Department and by agents from GardaWorld, one of the world’s largest private security companies. The site is not open to the public, requiring visitors to request access before arrival.
As guests arrived for the groundbreaking Tuesday morning, two security officers on four-wheelers looked on from atop a hill at the site entrance. Multiple security checkpoints buffered the site from the street, and officers from both agencies maintained a heavy presence throughout the groundbreaking ceremony.
About 20 people, including residents of Bly and Bundschu Roads, adjacent to the data center site, showed up to protest the groundbreaking Tuesday but were surprised to find a heavy black fence blocking access to the site at the end of Bly.
The protestors came prepared with signs, speakers and microphones but could not be heard from the ceremony over the heavy construction tools prowling the site. Independence police officers and private security officers prevented attendees of the groundbreaking from approaching the barrier holding back the protestors.
Monica Engle, who lives on Bundschu, said the new fencing was “symbolic of how we’ve felt this whole process.”
“We can barely see what’s going on,” Engle told The Star. “...They should not be this close to our homes.”
Bly Road has been blocked to through traffic for about a month as Nebius prepared to break ground, Engle said. Residents have been told the street will reopen in September, she said, but that security robots have been patrolling the area and telling residents to “stay off [Nebius] property.”
Protests continue
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Boynton referenced “the concern that comes with new technologies” and Atkinson noted that “people are going to have questions.”
The most vocal local opponents of the data center still have plenty.
Engle said that neighbors who live around the data center are continuing to grow closer to each other as construction amps up, and that political organizing efforts around the center will not cease. One group of neighbors recently formed the Independence Guardians Unite Against Reckless Development Alliance, or GUARD Alliance, filing formally for an LLC last month.
The GUARD Alliance took its first action this week by drafting an ordinance seeking a one-year moratorium on data centers in Independence, which they have pitched to City Council members for consideration, Engle said.
The group is also supporting an ongoing effort to recall First District Councilmember John Perkins, partially in reaction to his vote in support of a $6 billion tax break package for the data center.
“No one fully knows what is going on at [the Nebius site],” Engle said. “There’s speculation on all kinds of fronts, and ultimately, I think that it just needs to be slowed down.”
