A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Texas city sold 87 acres donated for a park to a data center developer for $10 million in 2025.
In 1999, a farming family deeded 87 acres to the City of Taylor, Texas for $10 to be used as a public park. The deed included a condition that the land remain a park. In 2025, Taylor sold the land to Blueprint, a data center developer, for $10 million. A 135,000 square foot data center will now be built there. Nearby resident Pamela Griffin, whose family has owned homes on the property for generations and used it for recreation, reports the facility will be built just 500 feet from her home, between a power substation and railroad tracks. The article indicates a lawsuit by the family was dismissed.
What commenters are saying
Commenters focus on the enforceability of deed restrictions and standing to sue. Several note the family's suit was dismissed, likely due to lacking standing since they were not the original parties to the transaction. One commenter questions whether deed restrictions survive multiple property transfers at all, suggesting the city (the last public seller) had no incentive to enforce them. Others debate whether perpetual deed restrictions should be legally enforceable or whether they improperly constrain future generations' land use. One notes the $10 figure may be standard legal boilerplate in Texas rather than actual consideration. A commenter mentions the Rule Against Perpetuities, which typically limits such restrictions to roughly 21 years after the donor's death, suggesting the farmer should have consulted a lawyer.