Hut 8: River Bend
Aterio Research Team
Filings reviewed through 16 October 2026
Aterio datasets
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The records behind this article live in the US Data Center Database: Locations and Power Demand dataset.
River Bend is Hut 8’s AI campus in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Phase 1 is a single ~600k sqft building with four data halls and 245 MW of critical IT, backed by 330 MW from Entergy Louisiana. Fluidstack has leased the building for 15 years to run Anthropic workloads, with Google guaranteeing the lease.
Executive assessment
We’re maintaining Q2 2027 for the first data hall, in line with Hut 8’s guidance. Two things support that. First, power is already in place on Entergy’s side, so there’s no grid or regulatory step left to wait on. Second, Hut 8’s own substation and the building, which now set the schedule, are both progressing well.
One thing we’re keeping an eye on is the possibility of a design change from the tenant. Fluidstack has re-scoped two other Anthropic campuses this year, and both slipped by about a quarter. We haven’t seen any sign of that at River Bend so far, but it’s the item we’re tracking most closely.
Construction
Structural steel framing for Building 1 is complete and roof installation is underway. Foundation work for the equipment yard is in progress, and the first data-hall slabs were to be poured the week of October 5. Roughly 1,200 workers are on site 24/7, above the ~1,000 peak Hut 8 originally planned for.
Building 1, 9 October 2026. Source: Vantor.
Hut 8’s on-site substation is well along. Steel went up from mid-July, and the switchyard structures and transformer bays are now in place.
On-site substation, 9 October 2026. Source: Vantor.
Hut 8 received its first long-lead deliveries in Q2 and said on the August earnings call that all long-lead equipment for Building 1 is contracted.
Power
Entergy’s side of the connection is reported as complete. MISO approved the Riddle 230 kV Station, a 300 MW connection built “to serve a new customer” near St. Francisville, and lists it as in service since May 18. MISO doesn’t name the customer, but the location, size and timing line up with River Bend.
There’s also no regulatory step left for Phase I. What’s still pending is energizing Hut 8’s own substation, which Hut 8 is paying for along with the lines into the grid at the neighbouring River Bend nuclear plant. To hand over a hall in Q2, we’d expect it to be live by February or March 2027.
Lease and tenant
Hut 8’s 10-K says it must deliver 245 MW “in phases with initial delivery targeted for Q2 2027” and flags “penalties or liquidated damages” for construction delays. No amendment has been filed so far.
The tenant side is moving toward handover. Fluidstack has posted five River Bend operations roles since October 6, including a site manager to work alongside commissioning “while the site is live and still being built”, which suggests a phased delivery schedule in line with Hut 8’s guidance.
Delivery timeline
In February, CEO Asher Genoot said the first hall comes online at the “beginning of Q2”, with another “every 60 days thereafter”. Hut 8’s formal guidance is looser (first hall in Q2 2027, the building handed over across 2027), and local news reported in July that Hut 8 is aiming for the building to be fully operational by Q3 2027. Based on that, we estimate the following delivery schedule:
| Hall | Aterio estimate | IT capacity delivered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Early Q2 2027 | ~65 MW |
| 2 | Late Q2 2027 | ~125 MW |
| 3 | Q3 2027 | ~185 MW |
| 4 | Late Q3 2027 | ~245 MW |
Potential risk: tenant design changes
Fluidstack has changed the design mid-build at two comparable campuses:
- Barber Lake (Cipher Digital, TX): a September lease amendment added tenant change orders and moved first delivery from September 30, 2026 to individual halls across Q4 2026 and Q1 2027.
- Lake Mariner (TeraWulf, NY): TeraWulf amended its Fluidstack leases in July after “tenant-requested scope changes”, and pushed the deliveries of CB-4/5 by a quarter each.
We’re not seeing the same at River Bend yet. Hut 8 also told site visitors on October 5 the project was on schedule and on budget. Additionally, River Bend is earlier in the build, so a change now would mean less rework. The potential exposure is equipment: a change to the power or cooling design could change the delivery schedule.
River Bend phase 2
Hut 8 has filed to rezone 701 acres for a second phase at River Bend: two data center buildings of ~568k sqft each, plus two substations. As filed, the rezoning site plan doesn’t include any on-site power generation. That doesn’t rule out BTM generation for Phase 2, which could be added in a later filing or sited on an adjacent parcel outside the rezoning area. The Planning & Zoning Commission deferred the rezoning on October 5. Fluidstack holds a right of first offer on up to 1 GW of additional capacity at this campus.
None of this affects Phase 1. Building 1 runs under its own site plan, approved in 2025 and modified in 2026 to consolidate into the current single building, and doesn’t depend on the rezoning. Whatever the commission decides only affects Buildings 2 and 3.
