Local landowners are taking advantage of the influx of Meta construction workers to Richland and Franklin parishes.
Five new RV or mobile home parks have been constructed in the parish in the last year, while several landowners have added two to five RV spots to their existing land.
“They are coming out of the woodworks,” said Nicki Martin, Franklin Parish E-911 director of the increase in RV parks.
According to Martin, there are also several RV or mobile home parks in the works.
“If somebody has land that is available for hookups, they are coming to us to put something on it,” Kellie Linder, assistant E-911 director said.
Before Meta, there were only a few RV parks in Franklin Parish, including Turkey Creek RV Park owned by the Police Jury. Heavenly Acres in Gilbert and the RV park on Huggins Lane started building their RV park shortly before Meta was announced.
There are reports that Richland Parish E-911 office has been inundated with approximately 1,100 spots needing 911 signs.
“People have said Richland has run out of space, so there has been an influx over to Franklin Parish,” Martin said.
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta is building a massive $10 billion artificial intelligence data center in Richland Parish. Meta projects the data center will support 500 or more direct jobs with average salaries that are at least 150 percent of the state per capita average.
Louisiana Economic Development (LED) estimates the project will result in the creation of more than 1,000 indirect jobs, for a total of more than 1,500 potential new jobs in the Northeast Region. The company estimates 5,000 construction workers at peak of construction on the 2,250-acre former Franklin Farm megasite that sits between the municipalities of Rayville and Delhi, about 30 miles east of Monroe.
Hyperscaler data centers such as the one planned for Richland Parish are housed in huge physical structures designed to process the vast amounts of data required to support digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads. The facility is the largest of more than 20 Meta data centers around the world.
LED expects the project, one of the largest private capital investments in the state’s history, to spark new economic activity and investments throughout Northeast Louisiana as multiple industries benefit from the billions of dollars invested.
Real estate prices
RV parks are not the only area that has seen an increase, but also real estate and rental prices.
According to Zillow.com, a 3,500-square-foot, three bedroom house was renting for $5,000. A one bedroom, one bath apartment was renting for $900, and a four bedroom, two bath house was renting for $5,000 a month. All three homes were located in Rayville.
In nearby Delhi, a three bedroom, three bath, 2,300-square-foot brick house was selling for $599,000.
In Tallulah, a four bedroom, two bath, 2,048-square-foot wood house has a price of $195,000.
Utility costs
U.S. consumers could end up paying billions to build new power plants to serve Big Tech’s exploding demand for data centers, according to a new Harvard Electricity Law Initiative report.
Data centers currently consume about four percent of all U.S. electricity but could rise to as much as 12 percent by 2028. Historically, the costs of new plants, power lines, and other infrastructure are shared by all customers, based on the idea that everyone benefits.
In Louisiana, Entergy Louisiana is seeking approval to build 2,250 megawatts of new natural gas generation for Meta. Neither Meta nor its data center affiliate, Laidley, is listed in the proposal now before the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The PSC recently fast-tracked approval of $3.2 billion in new generation to serve a $10 billion Meta data center project in North Louisiana. One commissioner even called the development a “godsend” for the economically struggling region.
But questions remain. Entergy initially claimed the project would create 300 to 500 jobs, only to later admit it couldn’t provide evidence. Meta has declined to say how many jobs the center would bring, or whether they would be located in Louisiana.
Entergy spokesman Brandon Scardigli said Meta has agreed to cover generation costs for 15 years, but declined to comment on job numbers or broader economic impacts. He said only that the facility “represents a major investment in the state.”
