Rosemount City Council has voted unanimously in favor of the Meta data center development in Minnesota.
The data center will be developed on part of the University of Minnesota's UMore Park.
The land sale went through in September 2023, seeing Meta acquire 280 acres of land for $39.7m. The company confirmed its involvement that same month.
The plan that Rosemount County has approved will see a 750,000 sq ft (69,670 sqm) data center campus be developed with two data halls. The data center buildings will be comprised of formed metal panels and precast architectural concrete support.
In addition to the data halls, a "support building" will be developed for housing equipment and office use, and a guard house developed in the southeast corner of the site. Two communication towers will also be built on site.
In total, Meta will invest around $700m in the project overall.
The data center is expected to provide 50 full-time jobs and 150 indirect jobs. During the anticipated two to five-year building period, around 1,000 construction jobs are likely to be created.
Some residents have expressed concerns surrounding the development at a Council Meeting, raising issues relating to environmental impacts and a lack of transparency from city officials due to the previous secrecy surrounding the project due to the use of a code name.
In October 2023, an unknown developer submitted plans for a 2.3 million sq ft data center campus just a few miles away from the Meta Rosemount campus.