Digital Realty Buys 1,440 Acres on a Former WWII Munitions Plant for a 2 GW Kansas Data Center Campus
Digital Realty paid about $475 million for land at De Soto, Kansas, planning a campus scaling from 600 MW in 2028 to 2 GW.
Overview
Data center operator Digital Realty is entering the Kansas City area with a large hyperscale campus, buying roughly 1,440 acres at Astra Enterprise Park in De Soto, Kansas for approximately $475 million, according to Data Center Dynamics. The company announced the move on June 22, 2026, and plans to develop the site into a campus capable of hosting up to 2 gigawatts of capacity, as reported by Construction Review Online.
The purchase is one of a set of transactions the company disclosed the same day. “These transactions support the continued momentum of Digital Realty’s three core pillars of growth,” stated Andy Power, president and CEO, according to Data Center Dynamics.
What We Know
The land sits at Astra Enterprise Park, southwest of Kansas City, on the site of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, which closed in 1993, per Data Center Dynamics. Digital Realty bought the ground from Sunflower Redevelopment in April for approximately $475 million, Data Center Dynamics reports. MLQ.ai notes the site is in Johnson County, roughly 30 miles southwest of Kansas City, and that the purchase was structured as cash and common units.
Power for the campus will come from utility Evergy, which has agreed to deliver 600 megawatts by early 2028, scaling to 2 gigawatts at full delivery, according to Data Center Dynamics.
The first phase, named Astra North, covers approximately 280 acres and is planned for up to nine buildings totaling around 3 million square feet, along with a dedicated on-site substation, per MLQ.ai. Construction Review Online reports the Astra North build is expected to support more than 1,000 workers during peak construction activity. The campus carries the internal codename Project Jayhawk, according to Data Center Dynamics, which adds that the design relies on outside air-cooling supplemented by evaporative cooling during peak periods.
Alongside the land deal, Digital Realty disclosed two other transactions. It agreed to acquire investment firm Columbia Capital for approximately $485 million, and it increased its stake in African operator Teraco by 16 percent for approximately $650 million, lifting its ownership to 77 percent, according to Data Center Dynamics.
Context: From Munitions to Megawatts
The De Soto site has a long industrial history. During World War II, the Sunflower plant was the world’s largest powder and propellant facility, according to KSHB 41. The property is now branded Astra Enterprise Park and owned by Sunflower Redevelopment, while the U.S. Army remains responsible for environmental remediation, KSHB 41 reports. The Army aims for a majority of the cleanup to be finished in 2028, with 72 of the 97 sites on the property already cleaned up at a cost of around $248 million, per KSHB 41. The same site already hosts a Panasonic electric-vehicle battery facility located across the street from the former ammunition plant, KSHB 41 notes.
What We Don’t Know
Digital Realty has not published a completion date for the full 2 GW build-out, and the phased ramp beyond Astra North’s 280 acres has not been detailed. The company has not named anchor tenants for the campus, nor disclosed capital-expenditure figures for construction beyond the land price. The pace of power delivery past the initial 600 megawatts depends on Evergy’s future capacity additions, which the announcement did not quantify.