ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A proposed 15-million-square-foot data center in Fort Pierce may be abandoned after Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced legislation that would give local governments more power to block large-scale AI data center development in Florida.
St. Lucie County Commissioner Cathy Townsend said the developer behind Sentinel Grove Technology Park — one of the proposed projects that sparked community outrage across Southeast Florida — appears to have pulled back in anticipation of the new legislation.
"The data center pulled because they knew that there was going to be legislation coming out in Tallahassee. They knew that the governor was going to try to put some benchmarks in place," Townsend said.
Sentinel Grove Technology Park was planned along Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce and would have been one of the largest data centers in the country. A second project, known as Project Tango, proposes building a 1.8-million-square-foot facility near the Arden community in western Palm Beach County.
Both projects have drawn significant opposition from residents across the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County.
DeSantis unveiled Senate Bill 482, the "Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights," in December, following questions from WPTV that pressed him for answers on data center development.
"The incentives of big tech are not the same as what's in the interest of the people and the public," DeSantis said in the news conference, "So we will have — in our bill of rights — protections for Floridians."
His proposed legislation would expand land-use restrictions, blocking data center development on agricultural and other land, while also requiring large data center facilities to pay the full cost of their utilities.
Townsend said if the bill passes, it could significantly slow data center development across the state.
"Passing that bill — it's going to be very, very, very hard to find property that will fit all that criteria and the other benchmarks are going to have in place," Townsend said.
At the same time, a separate measure, Senate Bill 484, would ban nondisclosure agreements for data center developers — meaning the companies behind both Project Tango and Sentinel Grove, both still unnamed, would be required to publicly identify themselves.
When asked what impact the bill could have on future data center development if passed, Townsend was direct.
"I don't really think you'll see any," Townsend said.
WPTV's previous investigation found Project Tango could use 1.7 million gallons of water a month. In other states, data centers have driven energy rates up by as much as 39 percent.
But supporters of the projects point to significant financial benefits.
"It's huge. It's billions of dollars," Townsend said.
Townsend also urged caution in how officials approach the issue going forward.
"So what we do today, we have to make sure we get right, because we don't know what the future is going to hold," Townsend said.
WPTV reached out to names and companies associated with development plans for both Sentinel Grove and Project Tango. No one connected to either project has responded.
Townsend said the developer of Sentinel Grove is waiting to see what happens in Tallahassee before officially cutting ties with the project.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Read more of our AI data center coverage below:
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Region St Lucie County
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Palm Beach County commissioners postpone vote on data center
WPTV Investigates
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