Cheyenne City Council committee approves 'Project Cosmo'
Nov. 7—CHEYENNE — Years of behind-the-scenes work moved into the public arena on Tuesday, as members of a City Council committee threw their support behind a development agreement for a proposed multi-billion-dollar data center project in south Cheyenne.
The project, commonly referred to as "Project Cosmo," is expected to begin construction in spring 2024. If everything goes as planned, a 945-acre plot of land in the High Plains Business Park will be home to an 800,000-square-foot data center.
Developments in the area will see new roads and infrastructure supporting the center while providing a number of new jobs to the community.
"This is a really exciting day for Cheyenne and for the state of Wyoming," Mayor Patrick Collins said at Tuesday's Public Services Committee meeting. The committee approved a development agreement that is pending final approval from the full City Council next Monday.
If approved, the city and the developer, Goat Systems, LLC, will enter into a contract that details the obligations of both sides, and specifies the standards and conditions that will govern the development of the property.
The contract requires the developer to pay park fees, public safety fees and provide building permit revenue. They will also aid in construction of on-site and off-site infrastructure (sewer, water and roadways) to support the development and provide avenues for development of nearby land.
This is just one step closer to the beginning of the development that has been in the works for around six years, said Cheyenne LEADS CEO Betsy Hale.
"Economic development is a marathon, not a sprint," Hale said. LEADS is the owner of the High Plains Business Park, where the new data center will be built.
"It's stop and go, and stop and go, and stop and go," Hale said. "It's engaging, convening, collaborating, getting the government at the table, getting the company at the table, getting the property owner at the table, working at the state level, county level, city level."
LEADS will manage the infrastructure development on the site before construction of the data center begins, as it did with the Microsoft data center at the Bison Business Park. Hale anticipates managing around $20 million in infrastructure development before the new owner begins work there.
While there is no estimate for how many jobs the data center facility will create, it will surely create a large number of construction jobs. Construction of the Microsoft data centers in town employed 700 to 800 construction workers for an expected seven to 10 years, according to Hale.
This long period is natural for data center construction, as they must complete it in phases to stay up to date with the latest technologies.
There has been some movement on the site already with the relocation of a natural gas line that runs through the property. While there is no set date to begin construction, Mayor Collins said he anticipates them to begin to move dirt in March or April if the project is approved by City Council on Monday. Hale projects the initial construction will last three to four years.
"Right now, we're seeing Wyoming becoming a popular place for data centers, cloud computing, that kind of a thing," Hale said.
Both the physical and business climate make the Cowboy State an attractive prospect for developers. The cooler temperatures and wind mean they can spend less on fans and cooling devices for computers. No corporate income tax, no personal income tax, a sales and use tax exemption for data centers, and a one-time data center cost reduction grant on power and fiber bills all give companies incentive for development in Wyoming.
"I think this is good for the city. We're going to get an amazing investment in our community," Collins said. "We're going to get jobs, it's going to be a great reputation builder for both us and for LEADS, and the infrastructure that's going to come is also going to be good."
Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.
