In Essex, the tiny south suburban village that usually measures excitement in corn yields and fish fries, neighbors say life has turned into a real estate thriller. Survey stakes are popping up in fields, sale notices are tacked to fences, and residents say Constellation Energy has quietly bought up huge stretches of nearby farmland. Locals estimate the purchases cover roughly half the village and creep to within a few feet of some backyards, which has many convinced a massive hyperscale data center is on the horizon. Village officials say they are reviewing an annexation petition, but residents insist they still want straight, public answers.
Public records compiled by local reporters show Constellation has spent about $47.5 million on 14 land deals in and around Essex, acquiring at least 505 acres between June 2025 and February 2026, according to FOX 32 Chicago. The station’s Unit 32 team reports those figures are drawn from Kankakee County deed records and FOIA documents that were used to map the transactions, while residents on the ground suspect the true total may be higher.
Alarmed by the pace of the buying spree, locals have formed the Essex Coalition, a roughly 40-person group that tracks land sales, board actions, and meeting minutes. Members say some of Constellation’s new parcels now sit just a few feet from private homes. Early concerns over who is selling and how fast the deals are closing were flagged in community coverage and board reports, as documented by Free Press Newspapers.
Annexation Petition And Village Rules
The Village of Essex has posted a formal “Notice of Development Standards & Required Mitigation Response Plan” on its website and confirms that Constellation filed an annexation petition in late November 2025. The village’s development page says the petition was sworn on November 24 and came with a follow up letter dated November 26, 2025. According to the notice, the petition lays out conditions that would shape any future zoning and sets a specific window for the village to negotiate an annexation agreement, per the Village of Essex.
Trustees’ Land Sales, Ethics Review And Company Line
Some of the biggest sales have involved people who helped run the village. Reporters say current or former trustees appeared in multiple transactions: Ed Foley sold more than 215 acres across four deals for just under $23 million, while John Bohac sold property in June 2025 for $1.5 million. Foley resigned from the village board in late February, and Bohac stepped down in April. After reviewing the situation, the village issued an ethics opinion stating that “no Village trustees have a conflict of interest that would prevent consideration of Constellation matters,” according to municipal documents.
Constellation has told reporters it has not yet selected a customer or settled on a specific project. The company says it wants to annex land near the Braidwood Clean Energy Center in order to “strategically market the facility’s carbon free generation” to potential developers. Village records show Essex has set an August 24 deadline to reach an annexation agreement, according to filings cited by the Village of Essex.
Why It Matters
Across the country, developers and utilities are racing to assemble what the industry calls “powered land” parcels that sit next to big, always on power plants and can be paired with long term contracts to lure hyperscale data centers. That model raises hard questions for host communities about water use, grid capacity, and how much control small municipalities really have once the land is locked in.
Recent coverage of Constellation’s uprates at the Byron and Braidwood nuclear plants shows why neighbors and regulators are watching these deals closely. Upgrades that increase output are helping feed an Illinois data center boom, as highlighted in reporting on how nuke upgrades juice power for the state’s data center rush.
For Essex, the next few weeks could determine whether the village lands new tax revenue and jobs or finds itself ringed by an industrial style campus many residents say they never signed up for. Members of the Essex Coalition say they plan to keep showing up at public meetings and will push for clear terms and independent reviews if Constellation moves ahead.
