The southern Texan city of College Station has rejected a land sale for a data center.

On September 11, the College Station City Council voted unanimously against the $30 million sale of around 200 acres of land along Corporate Parkway and Midtown Drive in the Midtown Business Park to Priority Power Management, LLC.

The city of College Station in Brazos County, home of the main campus of Texas A&M University, is located around 100 miles northwest of Houston and 100 miles east of Austin.

The vote was cast amidst strong opposition. According to KBTX, more than 75 individuals registered to speak in person, and a petition with more than 5,000 signatures was submitted. Concerns included noise pollution, procedural issues, potential environmental impacts, and utility demands.

City staff previously recommended that the council approve the agreement.

Priority Power initially contacted the College Station City Council in October, followed by the signing of an NDA and a project presentation in November.

The company reportedly aimed to develop one or more data centers that could range from one to three stories, depending on available power after a study is conducted. A conceptual site suggests a potential full build-out of a 600MW campus featuring two two-story buildings as well as two 300MW substations. Capital expenditure would have ranged between $1 billion and $4bn, with the development pipeline spanning 24 to 32 months.

The site plans list the development as Project Aggie, via PPM Data LLC. The facility’s planned name is shared by Texas A&M University’s football team, known as The Aggies.

Founded in 2001, Priority Power is backed by private equity firm I Squared Capital and develops, engineers, procures, constructs, owns, and operates critical energy infrastructure assets such as private transmission and distribution networks, on-site electric generation and substations, and primary metering equipment. The company was acquired from Oaktree Capital Management and Ara Partners last year.