Facebook parent Meta to build $800 million data center in Rosemount

Maraya King, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read

Gov. Tim Walz and officials from Rosemount, the University of Minnesota, Greater MSP and Dakota County were all smiles Thursday morning as they announced Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will open an $800 million data center in Rosemount.

The data center is to be constructed on a 280-acre parcel of UMore Park, span over 700,000 square feet and will bring in 1,000 construction jobs.

In addition to the construction jobs, the data center also will support 100 positions in the long term, Walz said. “It starts to position Minnesota as a place where we are attracting high tech industry,” Walz said.

“I’m the guy who gets to issue the license plates,” Walz joked as he revealed a Minnesota license plate that read “META IN MN.”

Rosemount Mayor Jeff Weisensel said, “The $800 million investment will undoubtedly shape the future of our city and bring about positive change and opportunities for our community.

“In addition to the well-paying jobs this data center will bring to Rosemount, it will contribute millions in local tax revenue supporting our community’s growth.”

‘Perfect home for Meta’

Bradley Davis, director of data center community and economic development for Meta, said Rosemount is the “perfect home for Meta” because if offers access to infrastructure, renewable energy and community partners. The data center will help serve the company’s needs for artificial intelligence computing power.

“Meta’s Rosemount data center will be optimized for AI workloads as part of a highly advanced infrastructure that helps bring our technologies and services to life,” Davis said. “These buildings and the hardware inside them will help people connect to friends, family, find communities and grow business.”

Once the data center is up and running, it will be powered by Xcel Energy and supported by “100 percent renewable energy,” Davis said. “Rosemount is now our home and we look forward to having a strong, mutually beneficial relationship for years to come.”

Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said Thursday that in Minnesota, Xcel is at 40 percent renewable energy and over 70 percent carbon-free.

“We have a plan in front of the Minnesota Utilities Commission to add thousands of additional megawatts of renewables over the next 5-10 years,” Long said. “We expect that Meta will grow to be among our largest customers on our system.”

Agriculture benefits

The Rosemount City Council approved a final site and building plan for the data center in December. The project, previously code named Project Bigfoot, met some resistance from residents who expressed concerns about environmental impacts, a lack of transparency and Meta as the end-user of the data center.

Councilmember Tami Klimpel, a resident of the area, said at the time she also had concerns, but they had been addressed in the approved proposal.

“We have spoken with other communities who have seen and touted the benefits of Meta’s commitment to being not only a good, but a great community partner,” Mayor Weisensel said Thursday.

The sale of the 280-acre parcel at UMore Park was approved by the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents in September.

Spanning some 4,772 acres, UMore Park was bought by the federal government in the 1940s to be used as a gunpowder manufacturing facility. After World War II, the land was given to the University of Minnesota and used as a research site.

“We are so excited to have Meta as the first in what will eventually be a light industrial business park,” said Leslie Krueger, assistant vice president for planning, space and real estate at the University of Minnesota.

Krueger went on to say that the data center is a “double win” for the state as the funds from the land sale will be used by the university to invest in its Future of Advanced Agricultural Research in Minnesota initiative.

The FAARM initiative aims to develop an agricultural research and teaching complex that will help farmers and industry navigate sustainable food production.

“I don’t know if my colleagues at Meta knew they were advancing agricultural research as well as cutting-edge technology,” Krueger said.

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