HOPE – A standing room only crowd was in attendance Thursday night at Hempstead Hall in Hope to learn more about a proposed data center that would be located in the Hope Industrial Park in Oakhaven. Anna Powell, president of the Hempstead County Economic Development Commission, opened the meeting and gave a brief overview. Vinco / Vastera LLC, data center developers, recently reached out to Hope Water & Light and Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation regarding the possibility of purchasing land to develop a micro data center in the Industrial Park at the intersection of Hwy 32 East and Hwy 278.
A Vinco representative said only about 10 acres of the land on the 89-acre site would be used to construct a 130,000 facility, with a footprint that would be about 20 acres. He said if the project went forward, construction would take 14-18 months, using 125-200 workers across several crafts, would cost $300,000,000 to build, and have a finished value of about $1.6 billion dollars.
Jason Carter, representing the Arkansas Municipal Power Association spoke next. He said Hope Water & Light was one of fifteen members of the group.
Hope Water & Light General Manager Rusty Cornelius spoke next and addressed capacity. He said HWL has 151 megawatts available with only about 50-52 megawatts currently being used. The proposed operation would need 40 megawatts. Cornelius said no incentives locally are being offered and Vinco would pay for all upgrades needed upfront. He said the project could stabilize customer rates for years to come.
15 people signed up to make comments and asked questions. Nine were opposed, one was for, and the remainder had reservations for and against. Some of the concerns expressed were emissions that could affect nearby livestock, the water table in the area, and price increases of power in the future.
Vinco is the developer. The possible tenant has not been named.
