A new hyperscale data center is making its way to our neck of the woods. The Kansas City Area Development Council announced Meta is expanding into Kansas City. The company will invest over $800 million to build the nearly 1 million-sqft facility over the next couple of years.

Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp. The recent name change alludes to the company vision of being “the next evolution of social connection.” Hear Mark Zuckerberg — the co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.) — explain in this video.

The data center will be located in the Northland's Golden Plains Technology Park — the northwest corner of I-435 and 169 Highway, straddling Clay and Platte counties. Local developer Diode Ventures is currently leading the development.

“It’s an exciting day in Kansas City as we celebrate Meta’s investment in our community — yet another example of Kansas City’s growing influence in the technology sector,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

The development — which is expected to be fully operational by 2024 — will support more than 1,300 jobs during the construction process, and the data center will employ ~100 workers. With the Kansas City area being the third fastest-growing tech market in the U.S, the pool of available talent within the IT field (67,800+) is definitely strong. Developers are also focused on sustainability, with the data center poised to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and aiming to be LEED® Gold level certified. Compared to the industry standard, Meta’s Kansas City data center will use 32% less energy and will be 80% more water-efficient.