The worthiness of a webinar about a proposed Festus data center development depended on which side of the data center the evaluator was.
A July 22 webinar about a proposed Festus data center project achieved its goal of explaining to the community the benefits of the development, the president of the development company said.
But at least a couple data center opponents said they were not impressed by the hour-long webinar and want to see Festus city leaders scrap the proposed development.
CRG President Chris McKee gave a half-hour presentation, describing how his company has downsized its initial plans for a data center on 361 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC in response to public concerns.
He then responded to questions that had been submitted through festusforward.com, a website CRG set up to provide information about the project, or by webinar viewers as the presentation progressed.
“We had about 50 attendees join the webinar, and we were really happy to see the community engaged on this important project,” McKee said in a written statement after the webinar. “We received thoughtful questions both in advance and live during the session, and we thought it was a productive conversation.”
He said there would be more webinars in the future.
“This was the first in a regular series of community webinars we’ll be hosting as the project moves forward,” he said. “We look forward to continue speaking with the Festus community and keeping them informed of our progress on a consistent basis.”
Among the points McKee made during his presentation were:
■ CRG voluntarily downsized its plans for the project, going from an initial design concept to build a 1-gigawatt campus with 12 two-story buildings to a 600-megawatt facility with four single-story buildings, thus allowing for larger setbacks from residential neighborhoods in response to community concerns.
■ The facility would use a “a dry closed-loop system” in which the water is recycled, and it would not overburden the city’s water source (the Jefferson County Water Authority Festus shares with Herculaneum).
■ CRG pays for its own electrical power and equipment, not Festus residents.
■ He said the company’s initial plan to buy out 12 homeowners was confusing, but the company has clarified it and increased the amount of the buyout offers. He said the buyouts are voluntary; no one has to move.
During a question-and-answer portion of the meeting, he said no nondisclosure agreements had been involved in the negotiations with Festus officials, and “we have no plans” in regard to a question about whether CRG would build small nuclear reactors at the site.
Responding to a question about job opportunities on the site, he said employment openings would be posted on festusforward.com.
Lori Merriman, a data center opponent, said the webinar merely reiterated points on festusforward.com.
“I did see the webinar, and it was the same presentation they made to the Festus City Council (during a June 29 closed session meeting),” Merriman said. “It was basically a waste of time, in my opinion. It absolutely did not change my mind.”
Erica Carter, another data center opponent, said she did not get her questions addressed.
“The ‘presentation’ by Chris McKee last night did not address questions the citizens submitted,” Carter said. “I submitted 30 questions myself, and Mary Fakes (also a data center opponent) submitted 12 herself. None of the questions we submitted were softball questions.
“(McKee) more or less reread the festusforward website in his presentation. It was disappointing we didn’t get to ask on the spot without scripted answers and see his real time reaction to tough questions. They got to cherry pick the questions they wanted to answer. The questions could have been fabricated by the CRG team for all we know. I seriously doubt a Festus citizen submitted the ‘Where do I apply for a job?’ question.”
In late 2025, CRG announced 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.