Overview
- The Huddleston and Bare family in Mason County refused a $26 million offer to sell a large share of their multi‑generation farmland for a proposed data center.
- Ida Huddleston rejected about $60,000 per acre for her 71 acres, and her daughter Delsia Bare declined about $48,000 per acre for 463 acres, far above the roughly $6,000 local average.
- The buyer has not been named publicly but is described by local officials as a Fortune 100 tech company pursuing a site near Maysville.
- County leaders tightened rules by raising the minimum distance between industrial structures and nearby homes from 500 to 750 feet as project reviews continue.
- Economic officials project about 400 full‑time jobs and more than 1,500 construction jobs, while residents voice concern about heavy water and power use, loss of farmland, and a broader national push for larger data‑center parcels backed by state incentives.