CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell is defending the city’s support for two hyperscale data centers under construction in the Big Cedar Industrial area, pushing back on claims of kickbacks and addressing concerns about water capacity, utility rates, and economic impact. A third, smaller data center is also in the works.
The two hyperscale projects carry a combined price tag of more than one billion dollars. O’Donnell said the site was built for developments of this scale.
“It was designated, zoned, tested for large industry, so Google fit that,” O’Donnell said.
Site history and zoning
O’Donnell said the Big Cedar site was purchased by Alliant Energy in 2016 and became Iowa’s first certified mega site. She said the area was zoned and tested for large industry before any data center interest emerged — at one point, one of the world’s largest candy companies also expressed interest in the location…