PEKIN, Ill. – A proposed data center project in Pekin is officially not happening.
In March, Mayor Mary Burress stated at a city council meeting that the city had no intentions of moving forward with the proposal on the former Lutticken property.
At Monday night’s meeting, a letter was received and filed from Western Hospitality Partners, the firm behind the proposed data center project. In the letter dated May 5th, WHP stated its intentions to terminate its agreement with the city. It also requested that the city return an $85,000 deposit for the project.
“This is a clean break. This contract is over. It’s terminated. It’s done,” said City Attorney James Vasselli.
The project received heavy opposition from residents since its initial proposal. Public comment portions of city council meetings would go on with concerns about environmental impacts of the project, to electricity costs, to noise pollution.
Burress says the city heard every concern from residents, and continued to do so after her March announcement. She says the city had remained quiet since then to ensure that everything was done properly on a legal level to terminate the deal.
“We did hear your voice, please don’t think that we did not,” Burress said. “I feel that we’ve done everything as properly as we can.”
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