Developer allows land agreement to expire before formal plans are submitted
BROKEN ARROW — A proposed data center development in Broken Arrow is no longer moving forward after a prospective developer allowed its agreement to purchase property near the Creek and Muskogee turnpikes to expire, according to city officials.
According to reporting by the Tulsa World, the city announced Wednesday that the company behind the potential project never followed through after initial interest surfaced in April. The landowner informed officials last week that a letter of agreement for the property had expired, ending the proposal before any formal development plans were submitted.
The proposal first became public April 30 when city leaders disclosed that an unidentified entity had expressed interest in developing a data center near the turnpike interchange. At the time, officials said they had not met with company representatives and had received only limited information about the project.
City Manager Michael Spurgeon said the city chose to share information about the potential development early in the process to maintain transparency with residents.
The Tulsa World reported that city officials were never contacted directly by either the company or its site selector beyond the initial expression of interest. The city’s Economic Development Corporation was notified in late April about a possible predevelopment meeting regarding a potential data center, but no request was ever submitted and no meeting was held.
Spurgeon said public feedback generated by the announcement helped city officials better understand residents’ concerns about data center development.
The city has continued researching data center projects and their potential impacts as officials prepare for future proposals. Spurgeon said he believes additional data center developers are likely to consider Broken Arrow in the future and pledged that any future proposal would go through the city’s normal public review and land-use approval processes.
In April, city officials also said they would not sign nondisclosure agreements related to any proposed data center development and emphasized that transparency would remain a priority.
