While One Farm Owner Turned Down $26M From an AI Data Center Developer, Another Couple Sold Their Struggling Farm for $22M

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As artificial intelligence fuels a massive data center construction boom across America, some landowners are cashing in on life-changing offers while others are refusing to sell at any price.

That contrast was on full display in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. In one case, a farming family reportedly turned down a $26 million offer to preserve land that has been in their family for generations. In the other, a struggling farm became the source of a $22 million windfall that transformed a couple's financial future.

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Ida Huddleston and her family rejected a $26 million offer for part of their 1,200-acre farm outside Maysville, Kentucky, according to WKRC-TV. The land was being targeted for a proposed AI data center by an unidentified company.

Huddleston's daughter, Delsia Bare, said the family never seriously considered selling.

"I'll stay and hold and feed a nation," Bare told WKRC-TV. "Twenty-six million [dollars] doesn't mean anything."

The family said their roots on the property stretch back generations. Bare added that relatives farmed the land through the Great Depression and helped produce food during difficult times in American history.

Huddleston was skeptical about promises that a data center would bring jobs and economic growth to the area.

"They call us old stupid farmers, you know, but we're not," she told WKRC-TV. "We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don't have any water."

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Despite the family's refusal, developers reportedly revised their plans using neighboring properties whose owners agreed to sell, meaning the project could still move forward nearby.

A few hundred miles away in Pennsylvania, another farming family faced a similar offer and came to a very different conclusion.

David and Marilee Kiliti initially thought developers were joking when they suggested their 89-acre farm could be worth more than $20 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The couple had spent years struggling to make a living from the property. David took construction jobs while Marilee worked as a forklift driver before retiring.

The Kilitis ultimately sold their land for more than $22 million as part of a larger deal involving 96 families in Salem Township, the Journal reported.

Collectively, the families sold roughly 1,700 acres to data center developer QTS, a Blackstone (NYSE:BX) unit, for $586 million.

The sale instantly created dozens of new multimillionaires in a region where median household income trails the national average.

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The money allowed the Kilitis to pay off old debts, build a new home and secure their retirement.

The two stories highlight a debate playing out across rural America. Some residents see data centers as a threat to farmland, local character and the environment. Others see them as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create wealth and bring investment into communities that have struggled economically for decades.

As AI continues driving demand for computing power, the value of land with access to electricity infrastructure has surged. The same technological forces reshaping industries are also creating opportunities for investors looking beyond data centers themselves.

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This article While One Farm Owner Turned Down $26M From an AI Data Center Developer, Another Couple Sold Their Struggling Farm for $22M originally appeared on Benzinga.com