Kentucky family rejects $26 million offer for data center development

Ida Huddleston, an 82-year-old resident of Mason County, Kentucky, and her daughter, Delsia Bare, have rejected a combined offer of over $26 million to sell their family farmland for a proposed data center campus.

An unidentified major artificial intelligence firm approached the family with offers significantly above the local agricultural market rate of $6,000 per acre. Huddleston was offered approximately $4 million for her 71 acres, while Bare was offered over $22 million for her 463 acres. Despite briefly signing a contract, the women withdrew from the deal due to concerns over eminent domain and the potential environmental impacts of data centers, such as groundwater contamination and water shortages.

While the family has become vocal opponents of the project, the development is expected to proceed as the company has assembled land from other owners and filed a zoning request for over 2,000 acres in the area.