What Does Google’s Data Center Mean for Kansas City Homeowners?

By Joe Nelson, Retired Air Force, Nelson Home Group Team Leader and Mortgage Loan Originator

Google is building a data center campus in Kansas City’s Northland, reported at $10 billion, and my honest read for most homeowners, offered as a practitioner’s read rather than a published price study, is this: modest upside, manageable risk, and the sharpest questions sitting within sight and sound of the sites themselves. There are two Northland data center stories right now, one confirmed and one still unconfirmed, and the headlines keep blending them into a single scary number. I’m going to separate them for you the same way I do for my own clients.

I break the whole thing down in the full video.

Own a home in the Northland, or thinking about buying one? If you want a straight answer on what the data center boom means for your situation, call me at (816) 680-6624 (KW KC North Office: (816) 452-4200) or email [email protected].

What has Google actually confirmed in Kansas City?

Google confirmed its second Kansas City data center campus in February 2026, and construction is already underway. KCTV5 reported the site at 12701 N Arrowhead Trafficway, northeast of the interchange where I-435 meets US-169, and Data Center Dynamics places it in Clay County. The Kansas City Star has reported the investment at $10 billion across roughly 500 acres. Port KC has authorized up to $10 billion in taxable revenue bonds to finance the project, along with a 25 year, 75% exemption on property taxes and a 100% exemption on local and state sales taxes for construction materials and equipment. Industry reporting describes five data center buildings totaling 1.56 million square feet. The project goes by the code name Project Mica, and Port KC’s own file still lists the developer only as one of the world’s leading tech companies. Google’s name came from the February press confirmation, not from the incentive paperwork.

This is not Google’s first Kansas City project. The company’s first Missouri campus, reported at $1 billion, broke ground in March 2024 and is still under construction. So the accurate way to say it: Google is not coming to Kansas City. Google is here, and has been for two years.

One more detail worth filing away, because it drives the electric bill question below. Evergy says the arrangement covers the full energy costs associated with powering both of the Google campuses. That is Evergy describing the deal under its large load framework. It is not a promise Google made in its own statement, and the distinction matters if you are the one reading the bill.

Is there really a second, bigger data center coming to the Northland?

A separate project with a much larger financing ceiling is in the works under the code name Project Kestrel, north of Kansas City International Airport. In August 2025, Port KC approved up to $100 billion in taxable revenue bonds for it. In March 2026, a company called Shenandoah Computing bought 430 acres from Hunt Midwest for the site. Industry press ties that company to Google. Google has never publicly claimed Kestrel, the public record does not confirm that site work has begun as of August 2026, and no completion timeline exists. I lay out the whole Kestrel record, the incentives, the opposition and the open questions, in my post on what Project Kestrel actually is.

Here is the one sentence to remember: one Northland data center is already being built, and the other is still a code name, a land deed, and a permitting file. Getting those two mixed up is how homeowners end up panicking about the wrong map.

Last verified: August 24, 2026.

Sources: KCTV5, Port KC, Axios, Data Center Dynamics.

Did Kansas City change its zoning rules for data centers?

Yes. On January 15, 2026, the Kansas City Council unanimously rewrote its zoning rules for data centers under Ordinance 251031. Before the rewrite, a data center counted as a communications service establishment, which meant one could be built by right, with no special permit and no discretionary review. Under the new rules, data centers are barred outright from residential, neighborhood, rural and retail districts. They remain permitted in manufacturing districts. And where they are still allowed in the business and downtown districts, they now need a special use permit, which is a public process rather than a counter transaction. Any single building with a continuous footprint of 500,000 square feet or more is treated as a large format use and picks up additional noise, setback, screening and traffic study requirements. Every data center applicant, regardless of size, must also file a will serve letter from the utility providers confirming they have the capacity and the commitment to actually serve the demand.

I read that vote as the city saying yes to the investment and no to a free-for-all. For homeowners, it means the next project has to answer hard questions in public before it lands near a subdivision. That is not theoretical anymore. On August 5, 2026, the City Plan Commission voted 6 to 0 against a proposed 20 story downtown data center in Quality Hill. The new rules have teeth, and neighbors have used them.

Will the data centers raise my electric bill in Kansas City?

By design, no. Missouri’s new rules are built to stop data centers from shifting costs onto households, though no rule can guarantee your total bill never rises for other reasons. On November 13, 2025, the Missouri Public Service Commission approved an Evergy large load rate structure that applies to customers above 75 megawatts of demand. It requires a minimum term of twelve years on top of an optional ramp period, puts the cost of any substation or transmission extension on the data center rather than the rate base, and requires collateral equal to two years of minimum monthly bills. Kansas regulators approved a materially similar plan on November 6, 2025, a week ahead of Missouri. Add Evergy’s statement that the arrangement covers the full energy costs of both Google campuses, and the design intent is clear: the data centers pay their own way. I go through the full rate structure, the Kansas side, and the water question in its own post.

Do data centers bring jobs to Kansas City?

The construction jobs are real and large. KCUR reports that Meta’s Northland facility drew 1,500 workers during construction and that Google’s first campus reportedly draws around 1,000. An OSHA strategic partnership agreement signed in June 2026 for the Arrowhead Trafficway campus anticipates roughly 500 craft workers at the peak phase for each building. Preliminary BLS data for July 2026 show Kansas City construction employment up 3.3% over the year, while total nonfarm employment grew 0.7%. Permanent staffing is a different number entirely. Meta’s operating facility supports about 100 permanent jobs, and in the examples KCUR compared, the permanent workforce ran roughly one tenth of the construction crew. Economist Chris Kuehl put it plainly: the startup phase is always the best part, because that is when you are getting all the building and all the investment, and then it settles into another pattern.

For housing, my read from my own Northland work is that years of well-paid construction crews create real rental and starter home demand while the build runs. That is my transaction level observation, not a published market count, and it is the same pattern I track in the Kansas City market update every month. Just don’t expect a data center to deliver thousands of permanent new neighbors, because that is not what these facilities do.

What should you do if you own or are buying near one of these sites?

Buy the map, not the headline. If you’re buying in the Northland, know which project is real, know where the confirmed site actually sits, and have your agent pull the zoning on the parcels around the house before you write an offer. In my workflow, that’s a ten minute records pull, and it tells you more than an hour in the comment sections. The confirmed campus sits inside the triangle formed by Gladstone, Liberty and north Kansas City proper, while the Kestrel site sits well west of Smithville. Those are different commutes and different school districts, and they are not interchangeable.

If you already own near the Arrowhead Trafficway site, be clear-eyed: you’ll live with construction traffic for years and your future buyer pool will ask about it, but you’re also sitting next to one of the largest private investments the metro has seen. Pricing and marketing a home near a site like this takes actual strategy. In my Northland work, homes sell next to highways, power lines, and rail yards all the time. The answer is never to pretend the neighbor isn’t there. The answer is to price it right and tell the story straight. If you want the site itself, I mapped exactly where Google is building and how close the nearest homes are.

And if you’re near the Kestrel site north of KCI, don’t make a single move based on a project whose construction the public record hasn’t confirmed. The research on data centers and home prices is mixed, and the clearest localized finding, a 2.8% discount within half a mile in a 2026 working paper on Loudoun County, Virginia, sat close to the site rather than across the market. I break that evidence down in my companion post on whether data centers lower home values. If you want to see what is actually selling near either site right now, search every Northland listing here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many data centers is Google building in Kansas City?

Google has two confirmed Kansas City campuses: its first Missouri data center, under construction since 2024 and reported at $1 billion, and a second campus at 12701 N Arrowhead Trafficway, confirmed in February 2026 and reported at $10 billion. A third project, Project Kestrel, is tied to Google by industry press but has not been confirmed by Google, and the public record does not confirm construction has started.

Where is the new Google data center in Kansas City?

The confirmed campus sits at 12701 N Arrowhead Trafficway in Kansas City’s Northland, at the northeast corner of the interchange where I-435 meets US-169 in Clay County. Construction is already underway.

Is the $100 billion Kansas City data center a done deal?

No. Port KC approved up to $100 billion in taxable revenue bonds and a Google-linked company bought 430 acres north of KCI, but Google has not publicly confirmed the project, the public record does not confirm site work has begun as of August 2026, and no completion timeline exists.

Should I avoid buying a home near the Google data center?

Not automatically. The research is mixed: a 2026 working paper on Loudoun County, Virginia found homes within half a mile of an announced data center sold for about 2.8% less, while a 2025 George Mason University analysis of the same region found no statistical evidence that proximity lowers values. My advice is to check the zoning on the parcels around the house, weigh the multi-year construction timeline, and price the specific street rather than reacting to the headline.

What does $100 billion in bond authority actually mean?

It means Port KC authorized a private financing ceiling of up to $100 billion for Project Kestrel. The developer borrows private money through the port authority and repays it; no public dollars are involved. It is not a public check, it is not proof that $100 billion has been borrowed, and it is not proof that construction has started.

Ready to Talk?

If you own a home near either site, or you’re deciding whether to buy in the Northland while this boom plays out, that’s a fifteen minute conversation with somebody who watches this market daily. No pressure, no script, just a straight answer about your street.

Call: (816) 680-6624
KW KC North Office: (816) 452-4200
Email: [email protected]
Web: https://nelsonhomegroupkc.com/