Developer Proposes 3 Linked Data Centers in Metro East
Date Posted: January 25, 2026
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Business Journal: A company is looking to build three data centers in Metro East, which could all be linked for one project.
The data center development firm, Cloverleaf Infrastructure, has been working on projects in the Midwest, especially in states that receive more of their energy from renewable sources, and is eyeing a series of sites on the Illinois side of the St. Louis region.
The firm has publicly named one site it’s hoping to build in Troy, Illinois, but it is also exploring undisclosed property on the Route 3 industrial corridor in Granite City. Cloverleaf is working on two more possible sites as part of the project: one at an unnamed location in Madison County and one at an unnamed site in St. Clair County, said Jeff Lake, development principal of Cloverleaf.
Data centers, or facilities that house and operate large computer systems, are growing in popularity due to the need to store and transmit large amounts of digital data.
A number of other sites, mostly farmland, have been identified as potential data center sites in the region. The city of St. Charles last summer became the first government entity in the country to formally pause data center development, when it instituted a yearlong moratorium after a groundswell of opposition to a large data center there due to residents’ major concerns surrounding water and energy use.
Other communities have been more receptive. Jefferson County and Festus have made moves toward approving a large data center for a client of developer CRG. Foristell, in Warren County, could possibly house two data centers on 400 acres of land.
In the city of St. Louis, a smaller data center could be located in a new $3 billion technology district at the Armory, the historic venue that had most recently served as an entertainment complex.
Most recently, a 575-acre swath of farmland off Interstate 44 in Franklin County has been targeted for a data center, but residents have pushed back because it’s next to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s 2,400-acre Shaw Nature Reserve.
Cloverleaf’s idea in Metro East is that the three sites would be developed at the same time for the same project, with two of the sites operating as backup sites for the main site, Lake said. The goal is for the three sites to be a minimum of 10 miles and a maximum of 20 miles away from each other, he said.