The disclosure and our analysis
Evidence dates
Evidence: Spartanburg County Council special called meeting agenda and packet for November 3, 2026 (agenda amended November 2, 2026), including the draft ordinances and draft development agreements. Reviewed November 9, 2026.
What the county packet shows
Spartanburg County's data center moratorium, Ordinance No. O-26-26, stops the acceptance and approval of data center development applications, subject to exemptions in its Section 4. The AIB and Numara drafts each state that their project falls within those exemptions, and the AIB draft says its agreement is meant to satisfy the conditions of the moratorium. All three drafts are made under the South Carolina Local Government Development Agreement Act, S.C. Code Ann. Sections 6-31-10 and following. The November 3 agenda listed a public hearing on each agreement and, under Old Business, second reading of each ordinance. [Source 1]
### 430 Jones Road: 300 Jones Road Associates LLC
The draft covers about 137 acres at or near 430 Jones Road, tax map parcel 3-08-00-085.00 (137.220 acres). It describes a data center "with capacity up to 65 information technology (IT) megawatts (MW)" and lists permitted power capacity of up to 65 IT MW. The company and its customers intend a total capital investment of $1.5 billion; the required investment is at least $100 million, with at least 25 full-time jobs. The term is five years from the effective date, extendable by mutual agreement. Construction must start by the first anniversary of the last development approval, with substantial completion by the fifth anniversary, subject to force majeure. [Source 1]
Community benefit payments total $9.0 million: $1.5 million within 30 days of receiving all required development approvals, then $1.5 million on each of the first five anniversaries. The money goes to a community foundation or similar public charity as fiduciary, for uses such as workforce training, broadband, affordable housing, parks and road improvements. The draft calls the payments voluntary charitable commitments, not a tax, fee or exaction. It gives the company a veto over allocations that do not align with its values, but bars the veto from withholding the money. The Data Center Design Standards exhibit is marked "[TO COME]". [Source 1]
### 389 Tyger River Industrial Drive: AIB CLT1 LLC
AIB CLT1 LLC holds a leasehold on about 16 acres at 389 Tyger River Industrial Drive in Moore. The draft says an existing data center of 20 twenty-foot (TEU) containers has operated there for about four years, and the project replaces them with a single standalone building. The project is "a 50 IT MW data center (with a 65 MW maximum facility capacity)", and the maximum development rights repeat that cap for the whole property. AIB and its tenant anticipate $1.2 billion of investment; the draft requires at least $400 million and at least 28 full-time jobs. AIB, through its parent or an affiliate, agrees to terminate an existing FILOT (fee in lieu of taxes) agreement within 30 days of receiving all development approvals. [Source 1]
The initial term is 12 years, extended automatically for up to two five-year terms if the company's third-party tenant renews its lease. Community benefit payments total at least $12.6 million in the initial term: $6.0 million within 30 days of all development approvals, then $0.6 million a year in years 2 through 12. Each extension term adds $0.6 million a year, up to $3.0 million per extension. The draft also requires a noise study showing post-construction levels do not rise by more than 10 dB. It bars the project from sharing a parcel or industrial park with, or sitting within one mile of, any other data center as the moratorium defines it. [Source 1]
### 4000 S Pine Street: Numara LLC and Valara Holdings LLC
The third draft names Numara LLC as owner and Valara Holdings LLC as ground lessee of about 293.637 acres at 4000 S Pine Street. It says the company "has developed a data center and proposes to continue developing the Property as a data center of 457 MW", including on-site power generation and related fuel infrastructure. The draft does not say whether 457 MW is IT load, utility service or generation capacity. It lists investment of at least $2,756,660,000 and a target of 27 full-time jobs, where a shortfall is not a default. Its effective date is typed as November 16, 2026, and its development schedule exhibit is marked "[To Be Inserted]". In the reviewed draft we found no community benefit payment schedule. [Source 1]
Status
As of the November 3, 2026 packet: Proposed. Each agreement was on the agenda for second reading and a public hearing. The drafts take effect only after final reading, and the reviewed packet does not record the outcome of the November 3 votes. No agreement is Approved in its final form as of the evidence date, and none of the sources establishes construction, energization or available capacity for the new buildings. [Source 1]
Buyer and operator analysis
This is our analysis. Community benefit payments are becoming a line item in data center development budgets in counties that have paused approvals. At the full permitted capacity, the Jones Road schedule works out to about $138,000 per IT MW ($9.0 million over 65 IT MW), paid over six years. The AIB schedule works out to $252,000 per IT MW ($12.6 million over 50 IT MW) across a 12-year initial term, about $21,000 per IT MW a year. If the Jones Road project is built below 65 IT MW, its cost per MW is higher, because the $9.0 million is fixed. Both schedules start only after all development approvals, so the first payment is tied to permitting, not to energization or a tenant move-in.
For a colocation buyer, the useful signal is timing. AIB's draft ties its extensions to a tenant renewal, and its 12-year term with two five-year extensions matches the terms AIB disclosed in September for its 50 MW CLT-01 agreement, which we covered earlier. That suggests the capacity at the Tyger River site is committed rather than open inventory. The Jones Road project has no named customer in the reviewed packet. Anyone quoted new capacity in Spartanburg County should ask whether the site has an executed development agreement under the moratorium, whether its final reading has passed, and which noise, light and landscaping conditions apply.
