Jacinto City leaders oppose proposed AI data center as company eyes October redevelopment

A plan to transform a former Budweiser bottling plant into an artificial intelligence data center is drawing opposition from Jacinto City leaders, who say they may have limited power to stop the project if it moves forward.

The debate will come directly to residents Friday night during a town hall from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Jacinto City Town Center.

Residents will be given up to three minutes each to speak and ask questions. City officials and a representative from Raeden, the company behind the proposal, are expected to participate.

“Clearly our mayor and council are in opposition to this and we keep portraying it as a David and Goliath battle, and that’s exactly what it is,” City Manager Lon Squyres said.

Raeden wants to redevelop the former Budweiser bottling plant on Fidelity into what the company calls an “inference data center.”

The facility would house powerful computers used to support artificial intelligence and other digital services.

Raeden said the property is well-suited for that use because it already has a dedicated electrical substation and an existing building that can be adapted for data center operations.

The company said the project would include extensive cleanup, redevelopment and improvements to the site.

Raeden is currently working with the property owners and the utility and determining which client would ultimately install and operate computers inside the building.

The company said it would like to begin redevelopment work as early as October 2026.

Jacinto City officials had expected a different future for the property.

After the bottling operation closed, Squyres said the city had been working with another company on a project at the site.

Squyres said that project had cleared several hurdles and appeared to be moving forward until city officials were told several weeks ago that the property owner was instead negotiating with Raeden over a potential data center.

Squyres said the news came as a surprise.

The mayor and City Council have since unanimously opposed putting a data center at the property.

“We knew they were marketing it for a data center, and when that happened, our City Council and Mayor Diaz asked us to do a resolution saying you’re not welcome here; we don’t think it’s a good fit here,” Squyres said.

The concerns in Jacinto City come amid a broader debate over the rapid expansion of data centers across the country, particularly as demand for artificial intelligence grows.

Communities have raised questions about the large amounts of electricity some data centers require, along with potential noise and water consumption associated with some facilities.

Raeden says its proposal is designed to address those concerns.

The company says the computers at the proposed Jacinto City facility would not require daily water use and the project would not increase or burden residential power rates. Raeden also says its design would minimize noise.

Raeden said its leadership has more than 25 years of experience owning, developing, and operating data centers and that it plans to be transparent with residents about how the proposed facility would be developed and operated.

Despite opposing the project, Jacinto City officials are also preparing for the possibility that they cannot stop it.

For several weeks, the city has been taking noise measurements around the perimeter of the proposed site to establish current ambient noise levels.

Squyres said the city wants that information as it considers what restrictions could be put in place to protect surrounding neighborhoods.

“What we’re hoping to glean from this as a city is we want to make sure that we know all the caveats, all the dangers, all the problems,” Squyres said. “We want to make sure we control the sound adequately, that we control the load shifting of power adequately.”

Squyres said the project could eventually require a special use permit.

City leaders hope Friday’s town hall will also identify concerns they may not have considered as they determine what requirements could be imposed if the project advances.

Friday’s meeting will put residents face-to-face with both city officials and a representative from Raeden.

“It’s an opportunity for the mayor and council to hear our citizens, to make sure that we understand any risk they may be aware of, that they’re concerned about,” Squyres said.

The town hall runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Jacinto City Town Center. Anyone who wants to speak will be given up to three minutes.

For Jacinto City leaders, the meeting is part of an effort to prepare for both possibilities: continuing to oppose the data center while determining how to limit its impact if the project ultimately moves forward.