Okeechobee County: Okee-One Data Center Canceled After Community Pushback

Indian River State College — a public institution serving the Treasure Coast — is proposing Okee-One as a hybrid facility: both an operating data center and a learning laboratory for students in technology, cybersecurity, electrical systems, welding, and HVAC programs. College spokesperson Howard Matzner has described the project as a workforce development initiative, framing it around career pathways for Okeechobee residents and hands-on learning opportunities for students.

The proposed 9–10 MW capacity is roughly 5% the size of Palm Beach County's Project Tango. At that scale, Okee-One is closer to a mid-size traditional data center than a hyperscale facility. College officials have said they are working to identify operating partners who will align with the educational mission. The project received a $1.5 million grant from Gov. DeSantis's administration, which is the funding that brought it to public attention.

The site is unusual. The 205-acre parcel was once the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee, a state reform school where children were subjected to documented physical abuse by state employees. The emotional weight of that history has shaped early public comment periods: some residents have welcomed the idea of converting the site into workforce training infrastructure, while others have questioned whether a data center is the right use of land with this history. The site is being reclaimed, regardless of what gets built there. What gets built — and by whom — is the open question.

At the April 2026 Okeechobee County Board of Commissioners meeting, about seven residents spoke against the proposal. A woman named Lee said: "What's in it for us? I have been doing some reading on my own and I have concerns about expansion plans for the center once it's done. Are we attempting to draw in more tech industry to the area? Let alone the electrical concerns... I don't see an upside." Another resident said she was there for her children: "I'm mostly just here for my children to say that, just keep in mind the impacts that we're making on the environment and the humans that live nearby these things."

The state reversal. On April 22, 2026, the Tampa Bay Times published reporting based on exchanges with the DeSantis administration, in which Florida Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly said the state was misled about the scale and nature of the project. The administration, which provided the $1.5 million grant from the Rural Infrastructure Fund in March 2025, now says it is declining to provide further funding. This is the same Commerce Secretary who, days earlier, sent a public letter to Fort Meade calling that city's hyperscale approval "fundamentally flawed." The state has now publicly positioned itself against both of the most visible 2026 Florida data center proposals.

College response. Indian River State College has disputed the characterization. A college representative, Moore, said in public comment: "We've honored everything the state has asked us to do. If commerce has decided to go in another direction, that's news to me." College spokesperson Howard Matzner has continued to emphasize the workforce training mission. The project is, at its core, a partnership between the college and the state for workforce development; the walk-back in state funding raises the question of whether the college will continue absent that partner.

The Treadwell connection. Reporting by the Tampa Bay Times describes how the project originated. Andrew Treadwell, IRSC's head of government and community relations, said his involvement came from a personal connection: his brother Raymond Treadwell previously served as chief deputy general counsel to Gov. DeSantis and was later appointed by the governor to the First District Court of Appeal. Andrew Treadwell has also said that Secretary Kelly personally introduced IRSC leaders to "someone very high up on the Nvidia chain." Nvidia did not respond to press inquiries. These disclosures — while not necessarily improper on their face — explain how a $1.5 million grant moved to a rural college project without broader visibility, and they are central to why the administration's walk-back is politically consequential.

The petition. Tampa-area resident Wyatt Deihl, who grew up in Okeechobee, started a petition opposing the project. It collected 500 signatures in its first day and stands at approximately 3,000 signatures — notable in a town whose population is around 5,500. Deihl has publicly said the town is too small and too rural for a project of this character.

The county's legal position. Because the parcel is controlled by a public educational institution, Okee-One is exempt from the standard county permitting and rezoning process. County spokesperson Jarret Romanello has said that while the commissioners have received updates on the project's progress, the county is not expected to take any binding votes on it — the county has no approval authority over the project. This is the single largest procedural difference between Okee-One and other Florida data center fights.