Realtors Offer Southaven Homeowners Cash If They Drop Data Center Suit

Real estate agents have gone door to door in Southaven, Mississippi, offering to buy homes on behalf of Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, on one condition: the sellers must agree not to join a lawsuit against the company over noise from its power plant. The offers cover the Colonial Hills neighborhood on the western edge of the city.

A realtor told one Colonial Hills resident that the goal is to purchase 418 homes in the area. Eighteen homeowners have already agreed to sell, according to a recording of that conversation reviewed by The Guardian. xAI did not respond to questions about those figures or its plans for the neighborhood. The company has said it intends to be a good neighbor and denies all claims in the noise lawsuit.

The home-buying effort follows a lawsuit filed in June by three Southaven plaintiffs over what they described as near-constant noise, vibrations, and other nuisance-level harms from the xAI power plant. Jason Haley, one of the plaintiffs, has lived in the city for 20 years. "There's a high-pitched hum and then another sound like an airplane over your house," Haley said. "It's been so torturous I can't sleep; I just leave the house or turn on some music until I fall asleep completely exhausted."

Residents not involved in the suit have reported similar conditions. Elizabeth Rose said the noise resembles a continuous airplane engine. "I've been woken up at 2 am by it; I've been woken up at 3 am by it," Rose said. "I sometimes have to just get away from it because it makes me so angry."

Southaven sits across the state line from Memphis, Tennessee, where Musk's data centers have faced legal disputes over pollution in communities near a company-owned supercomputer facility. Since July 2024, xAI has built three data centers in Memphis and Southaven: Colossus I, Colossus II, and MACROHARDRR.

Home values in Southaven average roughly $180,000, according to figures cited by The Guardian. xAI's parent company, SpaceX, did not respond to requests for comment on the purchase targets. The company has previously denied the claims in the noise lawsuit and said it plans to operate as a responsible neighbor in the area.

Haley described the impact on his daily life. "It drives you insane. You also lose hope because you're being ignored or dismissed. There's no escape," he said. Three plaintiffs filed the case in June over the power plant's operations, and the litigation remains active in court.