Amazon has purchased 348 acres of land in Becker, Minnesota, for a data center project.
First reported by Finance Commerce and the St. Paul Business Journal, the parcel was acquired by Amazon Data Services for close to $73.6 million.
According to a real estate filing published with the Minnesota Department of Revenue, the parcel will be used for a data center and was previously part of Xcel Energy Inc.'s Sherco Site.
Xcel spokesperson Kevin Cross said last week: "Working with businesses looking to expand into these communities brings about economic growth and job creation. As the electric provider for the area, we will be engaged in the site development process and providing the electricity needed to reliably power the site once operational."
Sold by Elk River Technologies, the land was first purchased from Xcel in April for $7.97m, meaning the latest purchase from Amazon is a significant markup.
Xcel Energy said at the time that Elk River Technologies was looking to develop a "turnkey data center development" on the site with an estimated $1 billion in investment to the city of Becker. The project is expected to see 1,200 construction jobs created, followed by 100 permanent roles upon completion.
Xcel and Elk River had been discussing the potential development since as early as 2022, though no end-user was named. At that time, Diode Ventures - which has previously built technology parks that are home to data centers for the likes of Google and Meta - was also reported to be involved in the site.
The energy company was previously in talks with Google to develop a data center in Becker, but those plans fell through in 2022.
In February of this year, Microsoft bought close to 300 acres of land from Xcel in Becker.
The Minneapolis-based utility plans to close three big coal-fired generators at Sherco by 2030. First built in 1976, the coal-powered plant has a capacity of up to 2,238MW and is the largest power plant in the state. The site was initially constructed by Northern States Power Company (NSP), now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. The company is reportedly planning a solar farm to replace the existing plant.
