Beacon Calvert Infrastructure Hub data center, Mount Vernon, Alabama

Beacon Data Centers' Calvert Infrastructure Hub, a proposed 95-acre data center complex between Calvert and Mount Vernon in northern Mobile County, Alabama, drew residents to the Mobile County Commission again on July 28, 2026, where commissioners said they have no authority to stop it. Construction of the data center campus is slated to begin by the end of 2026, according to South Alabama Utilities.

Beacon plans two data center buildings and supporting infrastructure on 95 acres of a 650-acre site between Highway 43 and Shepard House Road, leaving the rest as wooded buffer and open land, and puts the initial construction cost at $6 billion. The company says the first building is targeted for 2027, and that the campus would create up to 1,000 construction jobs and about 250 permanent jobs averaging $115,000 a year. Beacon, launched by investment firm Nadia Partners in March 2023, also has campuses planned in Alberta and New Brunswick, Texas and California.

Commission President Connie Hudson said the county cannot prevent the project because it lacks home rule, does not issue the construction permits because the land is in an industrial zone, and has not been asked for tax abatements. At an earlier meeting on July 13, three women urged commissioners to stop the project over its power and water use, bears pushed into neighborhoods, higher local temperatures and harm to livestock. Cathy Odom told the commission she does not trust the county to act in residents' interests. "It just seems like it's a done deal, we can't do anything about it," she said. Gina Daniels of Mount Vernon said the county should press Beacon to invest in services such as an ambulance company and a full-time fire brigade. Terry Williams of Mount Vernon said he went to a community meeting expecting to hate the project and left thinking Beacon was operating more positively than earlier data centers.

The utilities offered assurances. Donnie Cunningham of South Alabama Utilities said the campus would use roughly 7,500 gallons of water a day and that Beacon would pay for any water and sewer upgrades. How much water would cool the servers is not clear; Beacon says it will use a closed-loop system. Alabama Power's Erin Delaport said Beacon would pay to improve the local grid but did not say how much power the campus would use, adding that the utility will not sign a contract until an engineering study is done. Beacon told the Mobile Chamber and Commissioner Randall Dueitt it will not seek tax breaks, and the chamber said the county could expect $49 million and the county schools $50 million a year in taxes.

The next decision point is Alabama Power's engineering study and power contract; the county commission says it has nothing to approve unless Beacon asks for tax abatements, which Beacon says it will not.