Kentucky Family Turns Down $26 Million Data‑Center Deal

Ida Huddleston, who runs a 1,200‑acre family farm in northern Kentucky, rejected a $26 million offer from an unnamed AI data‑center developer to purchase half of the property. She said, “No amount of money can replace the history, memories, and legacy,” and her daughter Delsia Bare added, “Twenty‑six million dollars means nothing.”

The offer, roughly ten times the local land value of about $6,000 per acre, would have turned the farmland into a large data‑center campus supporting artificial‑intelligence workloads. The Huddleston family cited environmental concerns and the loss of agricultural heritage, noting that generations of ancestors had farmed the land through events such as the Great Depression. Their refusal underscores a growing tension across the United States as technology firms seek rural sites for expanding digital infrastructure, while many landowners resist converting farmland into high‑tech facilities.