A June 29 closed session of the Festus City Council has renewed criticism from the public because representatives of CRG gave a presentation on its proposed data center development behind closed doors.
In a written statement issued by CRG the night of the meeting, the company said it had presented a “refined conceptual design” of the project to city officials during the meeting. The written statement, as well as a website created by the company (FestusForward.com), described the changes as downsizing the project, as well as including the company’s response to residents’ concerns about it.
The written statement and website further stated the refined conceptual design would use significantly less electricity than originally projected and its cooling system would be a “closed loop” cooling system, meaning it would reuse the same water instead of using new water and produce little to no wastewater discharge, among other design modifications.
CRG of St. Louis announced in late 2025 its plan to develop a hyperscale data center on 361 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC.
CRG, which is the St. Louis-based data center development arm for Clayco, has estimated the cost of developing the facility at $6 billion. In the Festus project, CRG would develop the property, and then a data center company would operate it, although no operator has yet been identified.
Following CRG’s June 29 written statement, data center project opponents criticized Festus officials for conducting the meeting in closed session, saying it continues a pattern of the city’s dealings with CRG.
Brian Malone of Lashly and Baer, the city’s law firm, said the meeting was closed because the council was to discuss and consider potential amendments to the development agreement, and to discuss contractual terms for the water infrastructure plan contemplated by the development agreement.
On June 30, Mayor Sam Richards said the meeting with CRG was closed because of “contract negotiations.”
The Leader attempted to contact all seven current Festus council members (one Ward 2 seat vacated April 13 remains open) to ask their opinions about CRG’s revised plan for the project, as well as to ask if the presentation should have taken place in a public forum.
Two councilmen – Kevin Dennis of Ward 3 and Michael Cook of Ward 4 – answered the calls but issued no comments. Five of the council members – Dave Boyer and Karl Weekley of Ward 1, Allen McCarthy of Ward 2, Dan Moore of Ward 3 and Rick Belleville of Ward 4 – did not answer or return calls as of the Leader press time.
Benjamin DeClue, the new Festus city administrator, said the closed session presentation was necessary. He took over as city administrator the day of the meeting with CRG representatives.
“This meeting was intended as an opportunity for the council members, particularly the new council members, to review the development agreement approved in March, to seek clarification on some of the terms and to consider potential modifications to the development agreement,” De Clue said in a written statement. “The city did not know exactly what CRG would be presenting prior to their presentation.
“From my perspective, the modified plan went some way toward addressing concerns that members of the council had voiced since the April elections,” he said. “The city appreciates that CRG made its presentation public after the meeting and is taking a larger role in fielding inquiries about their development.”
But data center opponents like Mary Fakes said the closed session meeting follows a pattern established by city leaders in regard to their handling of the data center development project.
“Personally, I think it’s shameful,” she said. “Once again, behind closed doors, they had a meeting with CRG. CRG has promised two public meetings and has not had them. All of the meetings, just like before, have been behind closed doors.”
Social media posters agreed with Fakes that the meeting should not have been in closed session, as well as continued to state their displeasure with the data center development project.
Following the public backlash over the closed meeting, CRG President Chris McKee said in a written statement to the Leader that the project is still expected to be a $6 billion investment in the community despite the downsizing of the design.
“The $6 billion figure was always presented as a minimum investment level for the project, not a number tied directly to building count or footprint,” McKee said. “Even with the refined, smaller design, we still believe $6 billion is achievable – the investment reflects the full scope of power infrastructure, equipment and construction, which scales with the facility’s capacity and technical requirements more than with the number of buildings. That’s why FestusForward.com still reflects that figure.”
McKee said the downsized design and other changes were made to address some of the concerns raised by residents.
“We designed this revised concept directly in response to what we heard from residents – smaller footprint, single-story buildings instead of two-story, larger buffers, more preserved land and closed-loop cooling. We know not every concern will be resolved for every resident, and we don’t expect this to end the conversation – that’s part of why we launched FestusForward.com and why we’re planning further community engagement,” he said.
He added, “This refined design reflects what we’re currently presenting to prospective operators. Operators do have technical requirements – power density, layout, expansion flexibility – and we work with them collaboratively as the project progresses. But the site plan, buffers and community commitments reflected in this design are ones we intend to hold to regardless of which operator is ultimately identified.”
McKee said a public meeting on the project is planned.
“We will hold an information session with the public as required by the Festus Data Center ordinance, and we’re exploring a variety of opportunities to regularly update Festus residents about the project in the coming months. No dates have been set at this time,” McKee said.
Asked about rumors that the company is considering other data center development projects in Jefferson County and the surrounding area, McKee said the company is focused on Festus right now.
“Our focus right now is on getting the Festus project right,” he said. “Like any commercial real estate developer, we continually evaluate new opportunities.”