BOONE, Iowa—The Boone County Economic Growth Corporation has continued it’s efforts to encourage Lightedge to select Boone as a sight for a proposed colocation data storage facility. The Boone County Economic Growth (BCEGC) Executive Board invited representatives from the City of Boone, Boone Community School District, Boone County, Boone County Hospital, and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) to meet Lightedge representatives earlier this week and learn more about the company’s proposed colocation data center project.
Several sites across Central Iowa remain under consideration, and BCEGC expects to know more about the status of a potential Boone site in the coming weeks.
Lightedge will not seek any tax incentives from the City of Boone, allowing the project’s full property-tax revenue to benefit local taxing entities. The company will also work with the City to establish a minimum building value assessment, providing local taxing entities with greater certainty for long term budget planning.
Under this approach, property taxes would be based on no less than the agreed-upon minimum building value, even if the property’s assessed value is later challenged or changes over time.The minimum building value assessment would be established following final site plan approval if Boone is selected as the project’s final location.
For comparison, Lightedge’s facilities in Altoona have a 2026 value of $15.5M across 78,180 square feet and have generated $492,324 in property taxes over the past 12 months.
The proposed project would represent a significant addition to Boone’s property-tax base at a time when communities are increasingly focused on economic growth and diversification. New property-tax revenue from the project would benefit the City of Boone, Boone Community School District, Boone County Hospital, Boone County, and Des Moines Area Community College.
BCEGC plans to hold an open house for Boone residents to learn more about the project after a final site plan has been submitted to the City of Boone. Additional details about the open house will be announced at a later date.
About Lightedge
Lightedge is a US-based colocation data center provider that has operated secure facilities for more than 25 years, serving banks, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, and many of the Midwest’s largest employers. Lightedge’s facilities are built to serve local institutions and businesses — not to power large-scale AI computing campuses — and the company has a long-standing practice of hiring US military veterans across its workforce.
(contributed press release)
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