University of Minnesota regents approve land sale for $700M Meta data center in Rosemount

University of Minnesota regents voted Friday to sell 280 acres in Rosemount to Facebook parent Meta for a $700 million data center project.

The full board took up the $39.7 million UMore Park land sale after the Finance and Operations Committee approved it on Thursday. Robyn Gulley was the lone vote against the deal.

"It's not often you can get a $700 million investment coming into Minnesota with a company like Meta," said Regent Doug Huebsch, chair of the committee, at the Thursday meeting of the Board of Regents'

Gulley raised the issue of possibly having a labor agreement in place to protect workers involved in building the facility.

A Meta representative could not be reached for comment.

The data center site is in the northeast section of the expansive 4,772-acre UMore Park, where the University has been trying to spur development for decades.

For several years, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and Xcel Energy's Certified Sites program have been marketing the site on the university's behalf. The Board of Regents' meeting materials said that a "number of national entities have studied the site for potential development."

The city of Rosemount and Greater MSP also have been involved.

"Greater MSP has been working on this project for over a year with local partners, including Dakota County, the city of Rosemount, DEED, the University of Minnesota and Xcel Energy. This is an active and competitive project that is significant for the region," said Peter Frosch, CEO of regional economic development group Greater MSP. "We will continue to support it."

California-based Meta Platforms Inc. is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and other messaging applications. Last year, the company cancelled several data center projects as part of a broader restructuring.

Jimnist LLC, a Meta entity, will be making the Rosemount land acquisition. Other filings with public entities, including the Public Utilities Commission, were made under Amber Kestral, another Meta subsidiary.

Meta will be responsible for all infrastructure and utilities costs for the data center except for relocating a university water line, according to information in the regents' packet for Friday's meeting.

The sale is expected to close by the end of January.

The UMore site was home to a smokeless gunpowder plant during World War II. The federal government deeded the land to the university after the war.

A significant housing development is underway on a different parcel of UMore Park. Minneapolis-based Maplewood Development is the master developer for Amber Fields, which calls for more than 2,000 homes on 435 acres.

The housing and data center are signs that development interest in UMore Park is picking up.

Eric Van Oss, economic development coordinator for the city of Rosemount, said that so far the city has approved 1,233 housing units.

"There's definitely been quite a bit of interest really in the last four years or so," he said.

UMore Park also is home to a gravel site that operates 24/7.

A San Diego developer's plan for 1,500 homes at UMore Park collapsed in 2019 when financing did not come together.