A large data center campus is being planned outside Lexington, Kentucky.

Local press, including Spectrum News 1, report that Panattoni Data Centers is looking to develop a data center campus in Burgin.

Burgin is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, some 28 miles southwest of Lexington.

Project Bluegrass reportedly aims to develop a data center campus on 900 acres northwest of Burgin. Four buildings are planned, according to a presentation shared by Burgin interim city council member Scott McCoy this month.

The site will use a closed-loop cooling system to reduce water use. Pannatoni said it will cover any transmission upgrade costs relating to the project.

City officials are considering the annexation of some 500 acres of land into the city for the project. The first reading received a favourable but not unanimous vote from officials earlier this month.

A Panattoni spokesperson told press: “We appreciate the thoughtful approach officials are taking and are happy to follow the established public process. Projects of this scale benefit from careful review, and we look forward to continuing to work with local leaders and the community as the process moves forward.”

Founded in 1986 as an industrial real estate firm, Panattoni Development has developed around 625 million square feet of office, logistics, and industrial space in the US alone.

In August 2024, the company said that it would begin developing data centers in North America, setting itself a target to develop 1GW of data center capacity by 2030. That side of the business is known to be targeting projects in Wisconsin and Michigan.

The company says that globally it has a pipeline totaling 5GW across 20 countries, with some 2GW under development.