Weld County is investigating the Global AI data center for suspected construction code violations.
The Global AI data center, proposed for the former Carestream Health site at 2000 Howard Smith Avenue W, between Windsor and Greeley, has been issued three county code compliance violations ordering the company to stop construction.
Weld County Planning Director David Eisenbraun said the county suspects the developer is acting beyond the scope of permissible work at the project site.
“They’re building permit violations. Like any project, they (Global AI) need to obtain land approval first before working on the site or the building,” Eisenbraun said. “They have proceeded to, in our opinion, perform work on the building that was not permitted.”
Global AI can renovate the old Carestream building, but those renovations cannot extend to providing infrastructure for the data center it plans to build there, Eisenbraun said. Cleaning or repairing a roof is allowed, but the county now suspects the developer is doing more than that, which could lead to legal consequences such as termination of unlawful occupancy and removal from the property.
Global AI is a New York-based artificial intelligence firm that seeks to develop the world’s first sovereign AI data center in Weld County. The company purchased the property in November from Water Valley Company CEO Martin Lind, known for his attempts to develop the Cascadia project in conjunction with the city’s Catalyst project.
The company plans to operate the data center alongside tech giant Nvidia and Humain, an Arabic-language AI model backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
Global AI spokeswoman Gabi Bosiacki and Global AI Chief Operating Officer Michael Cadigan did not respond to requests for comment on the violations or an update on the data centers’ progress, despite being given a week to do so.
The project is set to go before the Weld County Planning Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 1, and undergo its use-by-special-review process on Wednesday, Sept. 23. These hurdles were set in place in April when the Weld County commissioners amended its current zoning permissions to restrict data center development. If both the planning commission and the commissioners approve the project, the company will be allowed to begin construction.
Both the planning commission meeting and the use-by-special-review process will be open to the public and take place at the Weld County Administration Building, 1150 O St., Greeley.
Weld County residents can track every project currently underway in the county, access meeting information and get contact information for the project’s assigned planner at maps.weld.gov/developmentactivity.