By admin 
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WJZY) – While many around the U.S. are taking a stand against data centers, one North Carolina couple says they regret selling their land to a data center developer.
Read more Carolina trails Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final and has a big decision to make for Game 4
Roxanne and Tony Wright sold most of their property in Kings Mountain three years ago to Honey Badger Development, a developer out of Reno, Nevada. Roxanne’s mother had previously done the same.
“I thought they were building houses,” Roxanne told WJZY, of Nexstar in Charlotte. “Never asked and they never told us.”
The dozens of acres of land belonged to the family for more than 40 years.
“My mother-in-law sold, and I thought I was going to have condominiums or houses and stuff right on top of us,” Tony said.
The Wrights did not sell their land that contained a small family cemetery. Tony maintains it, mowing the grass every couple of weeks.
“I got my nephew down here, I got my father-in-law, I got two nephews down here,” he said.
Now the Wrights know the developer’s plan is to build a data center campus, and their feelings about their decision have changed.
“Oh yeah, [I regret selling] every day,” Roxanne said. “I do, every single day.”
Had they known a data center was in the works, they likely would not have sold the land, Tony added.
Read more Victor Wembanyama says he’s ‘built for’ the pressure of the NBA Finals with the Spurs down 2-0
“It makes me sad,” he said. “I wish we wouldn’t have sold because we were happy down here.”
The developer manages a North Carolina LLC called HB2K, which has a Miami, Florida, mailing address.
Company officials didn’t return messages from WJZY on Thursday, but a lawsuit HB2K filed against the city of Kings Mountain this year over utilities says the “property is fully entitled as an AI data center campus with approved zoning and 150MW-300MW power pathway.”
A website for the company appears to have been taken down since a WJZY report on the lawsuit last month.
Kings Mountain leaders passed a data center moratorium this year.
A city spokesperson didn’t immediately get back to WJZY about whether that applies to this project.
Tony noted that it doesn’t look like there has been any development progress since they sold the property in 2023. He said that whatever happens, they won’t sell the cemetery, and he’ll continue to maintain it.