Kraft Group pitches a $16 billion data center campus in Sutton, Mass.

The Kraft Group, the company of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, has proposed a $16 billion data center campus of 10 buildings in Sutton, Mass., that would draw 900 megawatts of power when complete in 2033, The Boston Globe reported. It would be the largest project of its kind in New England.

The proposal tests whether a state that has largely missed the AI building boom will accept one of the country's biggest data centers. Massachusetts has among the highest electricity rates in the country, along with high land and construction costs, and Sutton would be its first large facility, the Globe reported. Voters last week from Maine to California approved 44 referendums to block or slow data center construction.

The plan comes from a memo, not an application. Sutton Town Manager Austin Cyganiewicz laid out the proposal from the Kraft Group and Unified Global Packaging Group in a memo to the Select Board dated Nov. 9, This Week in Worcester reported. "The proposal is tentative," he wrote. He said no application has been filed and that details on power, water, equipment and site impacts are still to come.

The build-out would come in phases. The first phase calls for two buildings of about 250,000 square feet each, drawing roughly 90 megawatts apiece and opening in 2029, with two more opening each year through 2033. The developer values each building at about $675 million in real property plus about $1 billion in computer equipment. The campus would sit on Unified's land off Boston Road and Providence Road, which is crossed by major transmission lines, including a 345-kilovolt line.

The town's math is the main selling point. Once complete, the project would bring in $27.8 million in tax revenue, close to Sutton's entire 2027 tax levy of $32 million, CBS Boston reported. The memo estimates the average single-family home would pay about $2,300 less in fiscal 2031 and about $5,800 less in fiscal 2035. The developers told the town they are in talks with grid operator ISO New England about power and are exploring treated wastewater for cooling.

Residents pushed back right away. At a packed Select Board meeting Tuesday night, all six people who spoke during public comment opposed the project, the Globe reported. Board Chair Jonathan Anderson said the board would not vote soon and planned multiple public forums. "This is not a project that’s a done deal," he said. The Kraft Group did not return the Globe's request for comment.

State rules add another layer. Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in September adding new hurdles for the industry, Bisnow reported, and last month the Westfield Planning Board denied a permit extension for a $4 billion data center proposal in the western part of the state. The Kraft Group has not named possible tenants. The power race behind such projects has also pushed AI developers into energy deals, as we reported earlier. More coverage is on the Tech Sector page.

Next, the Sutton board plans public forums, and any formal application would need town approvals before the project could move ahead.