Groundwork has begun and heavy equipment is now rolling onto the 2,25-acres in Richland Parish that will house Meta’s largest-ever data center. Meta is the parent company of Facebook.

CNBC and other media report that generative AI technology has become Meta’s top priority, enhancing everything from its advertising to AI powered personas and users on FB and Meta-owned Instagram.

Though the end user of the Richland project is Meta, the LLC under which the project is being developed is Laidley, LLC. 

Laidley is a Delaware-based LLC formed on March 15, 2024. The LLC president, Pamela A. Gregorski, is the vice president of CSC Global Financial, an international company that has played a similar role in other data centers.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate acquired documents that show the incentives offered by Louisiana Economic Development to Laidley, LLC, which include a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement between the Northwest Louisiana Finance Authority and Laidley, LLC and a lease on the property between LED and Laidley, LLC.

In the agreements, the state talks of the importance of the “new jobs, payroll, capital investment, increased revenue and other related economic development benefits…”. Both include performance requirements tied to the lease rental rate and the amount of PILOT payments.

First, the land lease

At the Meta announcement on Dec. 4, Governor Jeff Landry talked about the 4-million-square-foot facility on acreage off LA 183 just north of the Holly Ridge Elementary School.

The so-called Franklin Farm megasite was acquired by LED in 2006 and initially positioned as a possible location for automotive manufacturing.

The lease between LED and Laidley is for a primary term of 30 years with an option of 69 additional years. For the primary term, the rent to LED will be $732,000 annually. There are provisions and penalties for late payment.

For the second 69-year renewal term, the rent drops to $120 annually and Meta or the owner at the time, is offered an option to purchase the site for $12 million. 

According to the lease, this amount represents “the State’s approximate acquisition, development, carrying and maintenance costs associated with the Leased Premises along with interest during the lease at a rate of 4.57% per annum.”

That base purchase price could go up if the data center project fails to meet capital requirement and employment goals set by the state. The state also has an “out” and can redeem ownership if the lessee fails to meet “75% of both the Capital Requirement and Employment Requirement by December 3, 2028.”

What are the requirements Meta must meet?

The capital investment and employment requirements of the land lease and Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, align.

By Dec. 31, 2028, there must be capital investment of at least $5 billion, and the facility must be constructed and operational with at least 100 full-time employees. One note is that two part-time workers working at least 20 hours a week can equal one full-time employee.

Employment and investment numbers increase over the years, jumping to 300 by Dec. 31, 2030, $8B invested and 450 employee by the end of 2029, $9.5B and and 475 employees by Dec. 31, 2030, and $10B and above and 500 employees by Dec. 31, 2032.

According to the PILOT agreement, the employees will make an average wage that “is at least equal to 150% of the then-statewide annual average wage.” According to the latest numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the average Louisiana salary is $58,614.92. Public filings associated with the project project a Meta average salary of $82,000.

More investment means a lower PILOT

The PILOT includes a break on both ad valorem (property) and sales tax. The PILOT will run for 30 years and will commence when the data center gets its initial project Certificate of Occupancy, which will represent at least $5 billion in capital investment and at least 300 jobs, the minimum amounts recognized in the PILOT document. PILOT data projects that to happen by Dec. 31, 2027.

The direct jobs created, said LED Chief Innovation Officer Josh Fleig, will include workers inside the data center that will manage the physical equipment, “everything from infrastructure that supplies electricity or water, to those to the equipment, or to the equipment itself, in terms of refresh, replace, monitor, monitoring the network as well.” He says there will also be software-type positions, as well as electrical, plumbing and facility management.

Each year, Meta’s PILOT payment will be calculated based on the amount of new capital investment made and certified by the lessee and will represent just a portion of the property taxes due were a PILOT not in place.

Depending on the investment that is made in a given period, the PILOT amount will be 20% to 40% of the total ad valorem. It will peg at 20% if “PILOT Level 4” of $10B invested and 500 jobs, is reached by Dec. 31, 2032.

Regarding sales taxes, a payment will also include an amount equal to 1 percent of construction material, furniture and fixtures subject to state sales and use taxes. Because of the recently passed Data center Sales Tax Rebate Act, sales tax on certain data center equipment will be rebated.

Who calculates PILOT payments?

Until a new Industrial Development Board can be stood up in Richland Parish, the Caddo Parish-based Northwest Louisiana Finance Authority took the PILOT lead.

The yearly PILOT ad valorem payment will be determined by the Richland Parish Tax Assessor and collected by the Richland Sheriff. Sales and use tax will be collected by the Richland Parish Sales and Use Tax Commission.

Here’s where the money goes

The lease payments on the land go to LED. The 1 percent sales tax will go to the entities in Richland Parish that would receive sales tax revenue, the PILOT property tax payments will go to the Richland Parish Law Enforcement District, (53%), the Richland Parish Police Jury (35%) and the Richland Parish School Board (12%).

In addition to incentives offered by the state, Entergy has also agreed to build three additional power plants at a cost of $3.2 billion. The two plants in Richland Parish and a third north of Baton Rouge will supply an additional 3,762 megawatts of power needed by the AI plant.

The Public Service Commission has told the third-party consultant hired to handle the review that it wishes to have the data in hand by October 25, 2025.