The six bathrooms that will be in a 184,000-square-foot data center that Related Digital is building out for CoreWeave in Cheyenne are going to use more water than the data center’s cooling systems.
That’s according to Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau, who was in Cheyenne Tuesday to break ground on the $1.2 billion facility, which he believes shows how data centers can address concerns with resource consumption while providing communities like Cheyenne with needed jobs and revenue.
The facility will generate around $250 million in tax revenue for Cheyenne and Wyoming during its first 15 years of operation, according to figures from Related. The 115-acre data center campus will serve CoreWeave as its first tenant, a heavy hitter in both cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence sectors.
“Data centers across the United States today are hearing lots of issues, complaints about them, and so when we entered this space, we said we’re going to do this differently,” Blau told a group of dignitaries gathered to celebrate the project with a groundbreaking ceremony.
“What are the two complaints you hear about, you hear about water consumption. Neighborhoods and communities are concerned that we’re going to use up all the water," he said.
So, the $1.2 billion data center that Related Digital is developing isn’t going to use any water.
“We decided we will only build self-contained cooling systems that do not use water,” Blau said. “The water consumption in this data center will come from about six bathrooms — less than the restaurant we had dinner in last night.”
The other complaint Blau has heard is about energy costs. People are afraid that data centers are going to drive up the cost of everyone’s electric bill.
“There’s a tariff here in Wyoming, and this project will pay a tariff that will basically pay for 100% of its cost and ultimately provide infrastructure that over time will lower the cost of consumer bills in Cheyenne, in the state of Wyoming.”
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins looks out on the scene moments before a groundbreaking ceremony for a 115-acre data center complex on Venture Drive in Cheyenne. "I can't stop smiling," he said. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Two excavators form an arch over the ground-breaking scene for a 115-acre data center campus in Cheyenne that will serve an initial 88 megawatts of capacity to CoreWeave, while other large equipment continues working nonstop in the background. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Gov. Mark Gordon addresses a crowd gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony for Related Digital's 115-acre data center campus in Cheyenne. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins addresses a crowd gathered for the groundbreaking of Related Digital's 115-acre data center campus in Cheyenne. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Mayor Patrick Collins talks with Cheyenne residents after Related Digital's groundbreaking ceremony for a 115-acre data center campus in Cheyenne, while Jim and John Volk, right, and Wendy Volk, left, look on. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Surprise Announcement
Related Digital didn’t stop with those two common complaints though. It’s also decided to help with something else, and that took everyone at the ceremony by surprise, including Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins.
“When we decided to come into the data center space, we said we’re going to enter into communities the right way,” Blau said. “And that doesn’t just mean coming into a state like Wyoming, building a data center and leaving. So, I’m going to go slightly off script.”
He presented the city with a surprise $3.5 million donation for an affordable housing project.
The impromptu donation arose from a conversation Blau had with Mayor Collins the night before, during dinner, about Cheyenne’s affordable housing woes.
Related has invested in affordable residences in cities across America, Blau told the mayor.
Cheyenne, Collins told Blau, is looking at a housing shortage of between 5,000 to 7,000 homes by 2030, according to a housing study that was done for the community.
Collins also told Blau the city has been working on a 184-unit affordable housing development but has struggled to find enough grant money to make the project happen.
“I left that dinner and went back and talked to my partners,” Blau said. “And today I’m going to announce that we, Related Digital, are going to provide $3.5 million in grant money to enable this affordable housing project to start. That’s the way we enter communities.”
Speechless, Kind Of
Collins, brought back to the podium to speak, said he was “speechless” for perhaps the first time in his career.
Collins said the city has reduced building regulations and done “everything we can to try to screw on” more housing developments in Cheyenne. But their effort has run into many obstacles.
“And with these great jobs that companies like Related are bringing in to our community, it just makes that problem even more challenging,” he said, adding, “I had no idea this was going to happen this morning, but we are very grateful. I know there are people who are living in our community today in homes they can’t afford. They’re paying 50% of their total income for rent.”
Having 184 affordable units will help at least some of them improve that ratio.
“We’re going to change the lives of 184 families, because now they’re going to be looking at 30% of their salaries going to rent,” Collins said. “That’s transformative for those people, so this is an amazing gift. I don’t know what else to say but thank you.”
30 Years In The Making
John and Jim Volk, along with their business partner Mickey Powers, were among those who gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony held at Cheyenne Business Parkway on Venture Drive.
For them, this moment has been 30 years in the making.
The three grew up in grade school together, playing sports like golf. Eventually, they went into business together as Campstool Land Company. They put together several developments all along Venture Drive, including commercial projects that now houseCaterpillar, FedEx, Best Western, Camping World and other businesses.
The 115-acre data center campus that Related is building will be their latest and likely last project together. Part of the long timeframe involved was just building out the other projects, which had to happen first so that utilities could be extended to their furthest property.
They started working in earnest to attract a project to the site three years ago, Powers said.
“Wendy (Volk) and John and I were in Colorado one day with a developer down there who told us data centers were maybe the thing of the future,” he said, chuckling a little. “So, driving home, we decided, maybe this land would be good for a data center.”
Things didn’t really start to move, though, until they met Phil Horstmann, founder of Ascent, at an event in Jackson.
“He has a company in Missouri and Wyoming,” Powers said. “Ascent is Related’s equity partner. So, he developed, he put the whole project together, and they took it over.”
Powers and Jim and John Volk were especially pleasedwith Related after the company announced its donation toward affordable housing. The three couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as the huge flag overhead waved in the breeze, and construction equipment moved back and forth throughout the event, working even as the ceremony was ongoing.
“This means a lot to us,” Powers said, gesturing to the scene as his friends, Jim and John Volk nodded agreement.
Home On The Range
Gov. Mark Gordon also attended the groundbreaking and had a lot to say about the project, which he believes shows the power of innovation in the Cowboy State.
“This demonstrates that we can build data centers that aren’t going to use water,” he said. “That’s one of the big features of this.”
Data centers — or as Gordon’s colleague Doug Burgum, former North Dakota Governor and now Secretary of the Interior calls them, data factories — are going to be crucial to national security, Gordon said. The world is in an arms race that will involve cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
“(President) Trump has talked about how we need to win the AI race,” Gordon said. “It’s exciting to see that Wyoming can be perhaps one of the big centers of that innovation. We can do it in a way that protects our natural resources, that allows us to generate the electricity in a reliable and dispatchable way from all sources and really enter the 21st century.”
Gordon said more data centers are on the horizon for Wyoming, not just in Cheyenne, but all along the I-80 corridor and in other parts of the state, including central Wyoming.
“This is really the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “And really, in a groundbreaking way, no pun intended, but also to be able to point out that (Wyoming) is a place where we get things done.”
The moment is full of opportunities, Gordon believes, which makes cracking the code on water frugal data centers incredibly important to the entire state’s future, as it continues to seek economic diversity.
“We need our water for ag, for our cities, and for other things,” Gordon said. “Wyoming is very protective of its water.”
But it also needs economic diversity, Gordon added. He considers that key to Wyoming sons and daughters remaining in the state instead of having to leave to find good-paying jobs.
