Hut 8 announced it has signed a 15-year, $7.0 billion lease with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of IT capacity at its River Bend data center campus in Louisiana. The agreement includes a Right of First Offer for Fluidstack to secure up to 1,000 additional megawatts in future campus expansion phases, subject to additional power capacity at the site. Google is providing a financial backstop to cover the lease payments and related obligations for the base 15-year lease term.
The triple net lease, which features a 3 percent annual base rent escalator, is expected to contribute a cumulative net operating income of $6.9 billion over the base term, with an average annual contribution projected at $454 million. If all three five-year renewal options are exercised, the total contract value could increase to approximately $17.7 billion. The initial data hall is scheduled for completion and commissioning in the second quarter of 2027, with additional halls expected online throughout the rest of 2027.
Project-level financing is expected to reach up to 85 percent loan-to-cost, provided by J.P. Morgan as lead left loan underwriter and Goldman Sachs as an additional underwriter, subject to negotiation of final terms and agreement execution. Jacobs will serve as Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management partner, working in collaboration with Vertiv for critical infrastructure deployments. Ongoing operations will be managed under an Operations Services Agreement between Hut 8 and Fluidstack, with Google backstopping payment obligations.
In support of the project, Hut 8 secured an initial 330 megawatts of utility capacity at the campus in partnership with Entergy Louisiana, with the ability to scale up to 1,000 megawatts for future expansion. Hut 8’s development model involves carefully planned timelines and integrated execution across a group of partners, including Entergy, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Vertiv, and Jacobs. In its December 2025 development pipeline update, Hut 8 classified 330 megawatts from River Bend as “Energy Capacity Under Construction,” contributing to a pipeline that totals 9,520 megawatts across various development stages.
Concerning technical and operational execution, Jacobs CEO Bob Pragada said: “Jacobs brings decades of global expertise in delivering complex infrastructure for Advanced Facilities to some of the most discerning clients in the world, and this partnership represents the next chapter in that work. Working within Hut 8’s development framework, we will apply our End-to-End EPCM and program management expertise to execute with precision and predictability, keeping Safety, quality and timelines tightly aligned. Our collaboration with Hut 8 reflects the shared discipline and ambition needed to deliver a project we believe will become the benchmark for AI infrastructure.”
Hut 8 reports that once operational, the River Bend campus is expected to provide at least 75 direct new jobs and up to 190 indirect jobs in West Feliciana Parish, with potential expansion of employment in future phases.
Source: Hut 8
