Negotiations between an unnamed company and officials of a small town in Iowa about a potential US$1.5bn data center construction project there advanced last week, now in the phase of “discussing the fine details”, the Associated Press reported.

Officials of the City of Altoona (just outside of Des Moines) discussed infrastructure, development agreement and contracts with representatives of the company looking to build a project that will bring a major economic-development boost to any location it will be built in.

Altoona city administrator Jeff Mark said the project was close to the point when the company’s name would be revealed.

“I think we’re very close to being completed with this thing,” the article quoted Mark as saying. “The conversation we had was really crossing some T’s and dotting some I’s.”

The city changed zoning designation for a property to accommodate a three-building site plan in June.

It has been speculated that the company was choosing between sites in Iowa and Nebraska. The latter state recently enacted tax breaks for data center projects, hoping to fast-track a decision by an anonymous company to build a data center there codenamed “Project Edge”.

Iowa has seen great momentum in data center-related business activity in the state. In April, Google announced a plan to expand its already huge data center there, and earlier this week the Internet’s dominatrix announced an equity investment in an operating wind farm there.