A new artificial intelligence data center is under construction in Glencoe, with city leaders calling it an economic opportunity and some residents questioning its impact on the community.
The facility is being built at 670 11th St. W. on Glencoe’s western edge. According to Revolve Labs, the project spans about 6.25 acres and nearly 94,100 square feet across three buildings.
According to Revolve Labs, the facility will support artificial intelligence computing. The company says the data center will handle AI “inference,” the computing that happens when artificial intelligence systems generate responses. In project materials, the company compares that work to technology used by tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.
Not everyone is enthusiastic
One resident, who asked not to be identified, said he believes residents should have had more say before the project moved forward.
“That was just terrible. We should have been able to vote on it,” he said. “Everybody that I’ve talked to, they’re all up in arms about it.”
When asked about his biggest concern, the resident responded:
“Higher utility bills, the higher water bills, and electric bills.”
He also said he believes residents were not adequately informed, but city leaders disagree with that characterization.
According to Mark Lemen, Glencoe’s city administrator, discussions about the project began roughly 18 months ago after Revolve Labs, which already operated a small cryptocurrency mining facility in the city, approached Glencoe about expanding into AI-related operations.
Lemen said project discussions occurred during public meetings.
“We conducted them in open meetings. There were no closed-door conversations.”
Lemen said city officials spent months reviewing the proposal to ensure local infrastructure could support the project.
“We started to do our due diligence on whether or not our infrastructure would support it, whether or not we what parameters of the development agreement we wanted to have to make sure that we put in safeguards that protected our residents.”
Water use has been a common concern surrounding data centers.
Lemen said the facility is limited to 200,000 gallons of water per day under its agreement with the city. He said Glencoe’s water treatment system has a capacity of about 1.8 million gallons per day.
“They have a daily limit. They’re not allowed to exceed that,” he said. “If they were to go anywhere above that, we have the ability; we own the right to turn their water off.”
Lemen said residents have also raised concerns about noise.
“We do not want that to be an issue.”
Project materials released by Revolve Labs say an independent acoustical consultant projected sound levels of 44 decibels at the nearest residential area, below Minnesota’s nighttime residential limit of 50 decibels. The company says additional sound testing will be conducted after the facility opens.
City leaders say safeguards written into the agreement include the water limit and protections for the city’s water and wastewater systems.
A resident told KSTP they believe the project should have gone before voters. City leaders say a public vote is not required for a private business development and that the proposal moved through the city’s planning, zoning and council approval process.
Glencoe Mayor Mark Hueser said the project’s location was also a factor in the city’s review.
“We have this out in an area where there’s not going to be any building around them close or within quite a few 100 feet.”
He said the roughly 6.25-acre facility is much smaller than some of the large-scale data center projects proposed elsewhere in Minnesota and was intentionally placed in an industrial area away from most homes.
Lemen said Revolve Labs is not receiving local tax incentives and the project is not costing taxpayers money.
“This actually is no cost to taxpayers. They did not even apply for any subsidy as far as like abatement, TIF, anything like that. They haven’t asked us for anything.”
City leaders point to potential economic benefits
According to project documents, Revolve Labs estimates the facility will create 20 to 30 technical jobs and 9 to 10 security jobs. The company also estimates the project could generate $500,000 to $600,000 annually in property taxes across the city, county and school district.
Lemen said city leaders hope the project helps attract future investment to Glencoe.
“It does provide opportunities for growth and opportunities for the people that live here to continue to have the healthy and beautiful life that we can provide.”
City leaders said council members approved the development agreement in late August or early September.
Construction is already underway at the site. While company materials previously listed a target completion date of April 2027, Lemen said the facility is tentatively expected to be operational by late May or early June.
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