Project Lincoln: OC Data Center, La Grange, Kentucky

Western Hospitality Partners announced in late March 2025 what became known as Project Lincoln, a large data center on 267 acres of farmland on Highway 53 near La Grange, in rural Oldham County, Kentucky: two million square feet in eight buildings, 600 megawatts of power, $6 billion. By July 2025 local opposition had pushed the project off that site and then out of the county.

On Monday, June 2, 2025, the company announced it was moving to 3210 DW Griffith Lane, a 30-acre former drive-in cinema site between La Grange and Buckner, with two buildings instead of eight. It did not say how much power the smaller version would need or what it would cost. Abie Kassin of the company said the plans changed "after hearing the community's concerns about the Highway 53 site and working closely with numerous leaders within the community."

Nate Oberg, whose family's land adjoins the original site, had founded We Are Oldham County in April 2025, and it grew to thousands of members. Oberg called the move only a "slight victory," adding: "The fight still goes on. It's always been my position that without regulation in place, Oldham County is still at risk." He also called the move "a last ditch effort to circumvent the process, to circumvent any moratorium that will be coming down the road soon."

County Judge-Executive David Voegele, who had opposed the Highway 53 location, called the new one "an appropriate location" and correctly zoned. House Speaker David Osborne, whose district covers both sites, said: "It was obvious from the beginning that the original proposal was poorly conceived."

On July 1, 2025 the Oldham County Fiscal Court approved a 150-day moratorium on data centers, amending it 4-2 to remove an exemption that would have let the drive-in application go ahead. Two days later the company withdrew that application too, saying "in keeping with WHP's commitment to the community, the project will be withdrawn and will not proceed." Its statement added that "WHP currently has no plans to develop a data center in Oldham County."

Voegele said a draft data center ordinance would go through the county Planning Commission before a vote by the Fiscal Court, which will decide the rules any future data center must meet: "Some people call it progress, others call it disruption. But you have to have jobs and you have to have economic development."