Kraft Group Proposes $16 Billion Massachusetts Data Center Campus

The family that built a football dynasty in Foxborough now wants to build server halls about 10 miles south of Worcester. The Kraft Group, owned by Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is seeking approval for a $16B campus of data centers in the town of Sutton, according to Bisnow ^[1].

At full build-out the project would include 10 buildings drawing 900 megawatts of power, which Bisnow says would make it the largest such campus in New England ^[1].

The plan so far

• The campus would sit on 390 acres where Kraft's Unified Global Packaging Group already runs an industrial building that opened in 2023, Connect CRE reported ^[2].
• If approved, the first two buildings would open in 2029, with two more added each year through 2033 ^[1].
• Those first two buildings would pay roughly $10.4M a year in property taxes beginning in fiscal year 2031 ^[1].
• Elsewhere in the state, the Westfield Planning Board last month refused to extend a permit for a $4B data center proposal by Servistar Realties ^[1].

But Sutton residents heard about the plan only one day before a Tuesday Select Board meeting, according to Connect CRE, citing the Boston Business Journal ^[2]. Speakers raised noise, bright lights, terrorism risk and lower home values, and many called for an immediate vote against it, though the board said no vote was scheduled ^[2]. Massachusetts has also been a tough market: Bisnow notes scarce land, limited power and a September executive order from Gov. Maura Healey that added new hurdles ^[1].

What it means for you

By our math, the plan works out to about $1.6B per building and roughly $17.8M per megawatt of planned power. The tax pitch is the local hook: $10.4M a year from two buildings is about $5.2M each, by our math, a large sum for a small town budget ^[1]. For homeowners and land investors near Sutton, the open question is whether that revenue outweighs the effects residents fear on nearby home values ^[2].

Zoom out

Data center developers are hunting for land with power in every region, but Massachusetts towns such as Westfield have already said no to large projects ^[1]. Sutton's response will show whether a well-known local owner can change that pattern ^[2].