In an unincorporated stretch of Hill County, Texas, developer RCM Hill, LLC has locked in contracts worth more than $80 million to buy over 800 acres from four local families for a project it calls the "Aquila Site" — a price of roughly $100,000 per acre, about 14 times the county's $7,100-per-acre appraisal. When Hill County tried to pump the brakes with a construction moratorium, the developer sued for $100 million in damages. Three weeks later, the county reversed course.
2026 Update — Developing Story
- April 2025–January 2026: RCM Hill, LLC signs four separate purchase contracts with four different Hill County landowners for contiguous parcels totaling more than 800 acres — together called the "Aquila Site."
- May 12, 2026: Hill County Commissioners approve what appears to be the first data center construction moratorium passed by a Texas county, pausing new projects for up to one year.
- May 27, 2026: RCM Hill files suit against Hill County in federal court in Austin, seeking $100 million in damages and arguing the moratorium "exceeded [the county's] lawful powers" and threatened the project's ability to meet state electricity interconnection deadlines.
- June 3, 2026: At a commissioners meeting, a Hill County resident tells officials, per KWTX reporting: "We should not have been able to choose our forever home and our forever land based on fear of what it was going to be next to."
- June 4, 2026: Commissioners vote unanimously to rescind the moratorium, replacing it with a checklist of requirements for future data center developers. County Judge Shane Brassell tells the Texas Tribune the moratorium still "bought them time" even though it didn't stop every project.
- June 29–30, 2026: KWTX reports the full contracted terms of the Aquila Site deal for the first time — the $80 million aggregate price and the roughly 14x-appraisal multiple.
- Status as of this writing: It remains unconfirmed whether RCM Hill will continue pursuing litigation now that the checklist has replaced the moratorium — no public statement from the company's attorneys as of the Texas Tribune's June 5 report.
Hill County Land Values vs. the Aquila Site Offer
| Year / Benchmark | $/Acre | % Change | Notable Development |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 appraisal | ~$3,800 | baseline | Traditional agricultural / rural valuation |
| 2024 appraisal | ~$7,100 | +87% vs. 2020 | Appraisal basis cited in RCM Hill's lawsuit |
| 2025 appraisal | ~$8,000 | +13% vs. 2024 | Continued upward drift ahead of the deal's public disclosure |
| Aquila Site contracted price (2026) | ~$100,000 | ~14x the 2024 appraisal | Value driven entirely by data center development potential, not agricultural use |
Source: Texas A&M Texas Real Estate Research Center data cited in KWTX reporting.
The Aquila Site Deal
Between April 2025 and January 2026, RCM Hill signed four separate purchase contracts with four different Hill County landowners. Together, the parcels cover more than 800 contiguous acres in an unincorporated stretch of the county, and together the contracts carry an aggregate price above $80 million — roughly $100,000 per acre, against a $7,100-per-acre 2024 appraisal.
Those figures aren't leaked. They come from RCM Hill's own federal lawsuit filing, first reported in full by KWTX at the end of June 2026. If you're weighing an offer on land near a proposed data center site, get a no-obligation cash offer to compare against a developer's terms.
From Moratorium to Lawsuit
On May 12, 2026, Hill County Commissioners approved a one-year moratorium on new data center construction — what the Texas Tribune reported as apparently the first such measure passed by a Texas county. The goal was to buy time to study infrastructure impacts before more Aquila-style projects locked in.
Two weeks later, on May 27, RCM Hill sued in federal court in Austin, seeking $100 million in damages. The complaint argued the county had "exceeded [its] lawful powers" and that any delay put the project's state electricity interconnection deadlines at risk.
On June 4, commissioners voted unanimously to rescind the moratorium and replace it with a checklist of requirements for future developers. County Judge Shane Brassell told the Texas Tribune the moratorium had still "bought them time," even though it didn't stop every project.
Why Counties Have Less Power Than Cities
Per the Texas Tribune's June 2, 2026 reporting, Texas cities have zoning authority; counties generally do not. Nearly half of Texas's currently planned data centers are sited in unincorporated areas — up from just 12% previously — specifically because counties can't use zoning to block them the way cities can. That statutory gap is why the Aquila Site landed where it landed, and why Hill County's only tool was a blunt, temporary moratorium.
The Economist's View
"So, there's a lot of money that is pent up demand for these, and so therefore, land is frankly — I hate to say it — but it's a small consideration in the grand scheme of things with the amount of money that is in the hopper to build this out."
Krebs said he has heard of similar deals developing across the state over the past 18 months, and has not yet seen evidence of neighboring landowners accepting below-market offers just to avoid living next to a project.
Not an Isolated Case
The Texas Tribune's related June 2, 2026 report on Hood County, Texas — where eight data centers are proposed and local officials say they lack the power to stop them — establishes Hill County as one instance of a statewide pattern, not a one-off. For landowners deciding what to do next, see our full guide to selling agricultural land in Texas.
A Divided Texas Land Market
Per the Tierra Grande Journal (Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center), regions tied to energy or AI-infrastructure development — including parts of West Texas — are seeing localized "exuberance" in land pricing, while more traditional agricultural regions like the Panhandle are "trading sideways as high prices meet buyer resistance." The Aquila Site sits squarely in the first bucket.
What Happens Next
- It's unconfirmed whether RCM Hill will keep litigating now that the checklist is in place. No public statement from the company's attorneys has been reported since early June.
- Gov. Greg Abbott has recommended sweeping statewide data center regulation, including eliminating the industry's sales tax exemption (Texas Tribune, June 10, 2026) — a signal that state-level rules, not just county moratoriums, may reshape how these land deals get done.
- Other Texas counties are watching Hill County as a test case for what a legally defensible local checklist looks like.
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Sources & Further Reading
- KWTX — "$80M offer values Hill County land at about $100K an acre — roughly 14 times appraisal — for proposed data center site" (June 29–30, 2026)
- The Texas Tribune — "Texas county rescinds its data center moratorium after $100 million lawsuit from developer" (June 5, 2026)
- The Texas Tribune — "Eight data centers threaten to transform this small Texas county. Local officials say they have no power to stop them." (June 2, 2026)
- The Texas Tribune — "Abbott recommends sweeping data center regulation, including eliminating sales tax exemption" (June 10, 2026)