A Maryland-based developer, Stonebridge, is proposing a 4.4 million-square-foot data center on roughly 1,300 acres in northwest Fort Meade — a former phosphate mining site now used for cattle grazing. The facility would become the first “hyperscale” data center in Florida.
The project, which Fort Meade commissioners voted 5-0 last week to approve despite strong opposition from local residents, would cost an estimated $2.6 billion.
Even with approval of the 20-year development agreement, major questions remain, especially around water, energy, and infrastructure…