Data centers in Pulaski County, Arkansas: 2 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Pulaski County has two large data center projects and a year of fighting over them. At the Port of Little Rock, Google is behind "Project Boar", developed through a front company, Willowbend Capital, that bought 380 acres from the city. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette identified Google in January 2026. A Clean Water Act permit application to the Army Corps of Engineers showed five industrial buildings totaling 1.43 million square feet, two office buildings and a substation, with about 16.8 acres of wetlands to be filled; it did not state water or power demand. The city's agreement gives Google at least a 65 percent property tax abatement for 30 years in return for annual payments starting at $300,000. City officials said they had signed nondisclosure agreements. "A final decision to build is only made after all diligence and public reviews are complete, and, candidly, we have not reached that point," Google's Laurel Brown said in June. Near Wrightsville, Connecticut-based AVAIO Digital plans a 760-acre campus with $6 billion of initial investment and 150MW of contracted power from Entergy Arkansas that could grow to 1 gigawatt, the Arkansas Times reported. Its project manager said water use would average about 200,000 gallons a day in warmer months.

On May 26 the Quorum Court appeared to pass a one-year moratorium on new data centers in unincorporated areas, with an eight-vote exemption for AVAIO, the Arkansas Advocate reported. "Arkansas is the Natural State, and tonight I heard, 'Natural State be damned. Money, money, money,'" resident Teri Drennan said. Two days later the county clerk announced she had miscounted: the emergency ordinance needed ten votes and had not passed. County Attorney Hamilton Kemp had questioned whether a 2023 state law allowed a ban at all. On July 28 the court voted down a new moratorium that also exempted AVAIO, after rejecting an amendment that would have made exempt projects follow future rules, KATV reported. Little Rock's Board of Directors unanimously adopted data center zoning rules on June 2 after a nearly five-hour meeting in which many residents asked for a moratorium instead. Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said the city could not ban data centers outright under Act 851 of 2023. Sierra Club chapter president George Wise said of Entergy's pledge that rates would not rise: "What's a pledge? What's a pledge? I don't believe it."

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.