The majority of the Festus City Council on Aug. 24 approved more annexations in connection with the CRG data center development project.
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. On March 30, the majority of the City Council as constituted at the time approved a data center development agreement with CRG Acquisition.
On Nov. 10, 2025, the City Council agreed to annex 240 acres of the 361-acre property that previously were outside the city limits. The rest of the acreage was already located inside the city and did not need to be annexed.
Tim O’Connell, a CRG spokesperson, confirmed the newly annexed properties will be a part of the data center development project.
“Yes, these three parcels are in addition to the property annexed previously as part of the project site,” he said. “They are included in the conceptual plan we presented to the city of Festus on June 29, which is posted at FestusForward.com. As with the rest of the campus, final site plans are submitted through the city’s permitting process before construction begins.”
CRG President Chris McKee has stated he hopes work on the project will begin in November.
The three newly annexed properties, which are along Hwy. 67 and total 6.55 acres, are next to the original proposed data center property site, according to a staff report.
Council members voted 5-2 to approve the annexations in one motion.
Those voting for it were: Dave Boyer and Karl Weekley, both of Ward 1; Allen McCarthy of Ward 2; Kevin Dennis of Ward 3; and Mike Cook of Ward 4.
The no votes came from Dan Moore of Ward 3 and Rick Belleville of Ward 4. A Ward 2 council seat remains vacant.
The current property owners petitioned Festus for voluntary annexation of the land.
According to information from Festus and the Jefferson County government website, the property locations are: 1775 Hwy. 67 (Parcel No. 18601300002023), owners Melvin and Angela Myers, a 3.57-acre tract; 1775 Hwy. 67 (Parcel No. 18601300002024), owner KTB LLC, a 1.49-acre tract; and 1779 Hwy. 67 (Parcel No. 18601300002025, owner M&D Moore Investments LLC, a 1.49-acre tract.
Prior to voting, Belleville made a motion to table the annexation vote “until the next council meeting” in order for councilmen to have more time to study the matter.
That motion was voted down 5-2, with Moore and Belleville voting for it and the rest voting against.
The annexation was approved 5-2 four days before a new state law went into effect that would only allow Jefferson County cities, towns and villages to annex land if 25 percent of the property is contiguous with their borders, and cities, towns and villages would only be allowed to annex property once every two years.
On Aug. 26, Crystal City filed a lawsuit in Cole County seeking to jettison the portion of a bill that would hinder Jefferson County cities’ ability to annex property.
The suit asks Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green to issue a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order to stop the law and to later issue a permanent injunction to erase the law.
In other business, the Festus City Council meeting scheduled for Sept. 14 has been canceled after it was determined there would be a lack of a quorum, Moore confirmed.