COPT Van Meter data center, Van Meter, Iowa

COPT Defense Properties' planned data center campus at Van Meter, in Dallas County, Iowa, is stalled on power: chief executive Stephen Budorick told investors on the company's April 28, 2026 earnings call that COPT is "at an impasse on power" and does not expect to move for three to four years. COPT bought the 365-acre parcel near Des Moines in late September 2024 for $32 million, saying the land could hold about 3.3 million square feet of data center buildings supported by an estimated 1 gigawatt of power.

The existing zoning already allows data centers, COPT said, and the site could total 15 buildings of 220,000 square feet each and two substations, built for an unnamed Fortune 100 cloud computing tenant, according to Data Center Dynamics. COPT plans to build the site in phases and self-fund the work, Budorick said when the land purchase was announced.

"No real update. We are at an impasse on power," Budorick told analysts on the April call, adding that the economic terms to move forward had been too burdensome: "We elected to step aside, let others lead in that market, and wait for the power company to adjust to the elevated demand for power for data in the market."

Because the zoning already allows data centers, what happens next turns on COPT signing a tenant and securing power rather than on a rezoning vote; any site plan would still need approval from the Van Meter City Council.