正在建设Meta迄今最大规模数据中心的建筑工人正涌入路易斯安那州的一个小镇，他们带来的不仅有专业技能和劳动力，还有可供消费的现金。当地创业者正在利用这一事实来创建新企业。“这对每个人来说都是一个好机会，”当地企业冰雪女王（Ice Queen）的联合创始人大卫·罗杰斯（David Rodgers）对《商业内幕》表示。“我告诉大家，除非你有500亿美元，否则你是阻止不了这股潮流的。你不如加入进来，顺应潮流。”
The construction workers building Meta's largest-ever data center are arriving in a tiny Louisiana town with more than specialized skills and manpower. They've also got cash to spend. It's a fact that local entrepreneurs are leveraging to build new businesses. "It's been a good opportunity for everybody," David Rodgers, the cofounder of Ice Queen, a local business, told Business Insider. "I tell people, you can't stop it unless you have $50 billion. You might as well get on board and go with the flow."
Meta表示，这座被称为“海恩里翁”（Hyperion）的数据中心将横跨位于乡村地区的霍莉里奇（Holly Ridge），面积近1,000万平方英尺，在建设高峰期将支持超过7,500个工作岗位。这一劳动力规模比科罗拉多州阿斯彭（Aspen）的人口还要多。
Meta said the data center, dubbed Hyperion, will span nearly 10 million square feet in rural Holly Ridge and will support more than 7,500 jobs at peak construction. That's a workforce larger than the population of Aspen, Colorado.
虽然工人的涌入给当地住房市场造成了压力，并打乱了日常生活的一些方面，但他们的存在也提振了该地区的经济。霍莉里奇是里奇兰堂区（Richland Parish）近19,600名居民中极小的一部分，几十年来，农业一直是当地的主导产业。在Meta到来之前，组成里奇兰堂区的零星城镇、村庄和非建制地区多年来一直没有出现显著的经济增长。
While the influx of workers is straining the local housing market and disrupting aspects of daily life, their presence has also boosted the region's economy. Holly Ridge is a very small sliver of the nearly 19,600 residents in Richland Parish, where agriculture has been the main industry for decades. Before Meta arrived, the smattering of towns, villages, and unincorporated areas that make up Richland Parish hadn't seen significant economic growth in years.
里奇兰堂区的一家餐馆老板蒂姆·艾伦（Tim Allen）曾在附近的雷维尔（Rayville）小镇亲历过那种经济停滞。“在我的一生中，雷维尔一直是个小社区，并且在过去几年里一直在走下坡路。我们有很多人，他们的孩子都搬走了，而且通常不会再回来，”艾伦说。“在我成长的时候，雷维尔的市中心有许多企业、五金店和服装店。它们一家接一家地关门，直到只剩下两家店。”
Tim Allen, a Richland Parish restaurant owner, lived through that stagnation in the nearby town of Rayville. "Rayville has been a small community my whole life, and it's been in decline over the last several years. We have a lot of people whose children are moving out, and they usually don't come back," Allen said. "Growing up, downtown Rayville had multiple businesses, hardware stores, and clothing stores. One by one, they shut down until only a couple of stores were left."
当Meta在2024年宣布其项目时，艾伦和他的家人是看到转机到来的人之一。“自从Meta宣布消息以来，我们看到老企业重焕生机，新企业开张，包括我们自己的店在内，”艾伦说。神圣塔可（Holy Tacos）于2025年4月开业。
When Meta announced its project in 2024, Allen and his family were among those who saw an opportunity to turn things around. "Since Meta's announcement, we've seen old businesses revitalize and new ones open, including ours," Allen said. Holy Tacos opened in April 2025.
同样住在雷维尔的TJ·韦德和凯西·韦德（TJ and Kaycie Weed）表示，Meta的项目所带来的新人口结构推动了他们的销售额增长。他们在2021年底左右首次开办了名为HeBrews Coffee & Eats的咖啡馆。“刚开业时，我们觉得一天有30张订单就算不错了，”TJ说，“现在，仅通过免下车购餐通道（drive-thru），我们在头一个半小时内就能达到30张订单。我们现在的订单量大概能达到130张。”
TJ and Kaycie Weed, also based in Rayville, said the new demographic created by Meta's project has boosted their sales. They first opened their café, HeBrews Coffee & Eats, near the end of 2021. "When we first started, we thought 30 tickets was a good day," TJ said. "Now, we're hitting 30 tickets before the first hour and a half through the drive-thru alone. We're probably hitting 130 tickets now."
雷维尔的那家咖啡馆是实体店，但这对夫妇还拥有两家特许经营店，其中包括一家于2025年开业的美食餐车，位于霍利里奇施工现场的正对面。他们表示，霍利里奇分店的开业完全是因为Meta。“霍利里奇分店承担了大部分的外送餐饮业务。如果是Meta旗下的任何企业，我都会把业务交由霍利里奇负责，”TJ说。
The café in Rayville is a brick-and-mortar, but the couple has two franchise locations, including a food truck that opened in 2025 directly across the street from the construction site in Holly Ridge. They said the Holly Ridge location opened specifically because of Meta. "Holly Ridge does most of the catering. If it's any of the businesses under the umbrella of Meta, I send it to Holly Ridge," TJ said.
这股建筑工人浪潮启发罗杰斯和他的前商业伙伴琳达·爱德华兹（Linda Edwards）于2025年共同创立了“冰雪女王”（Ice Queen）。该企业向参与Meta项目的分包商和公司出售售价3美元一袋的冰块。该教区今年夏天经历了数次热浪，这使得冰块成为户外体力劳动者的必需品。自7月以来，当地居民已经经历了两十多次气温达到100华氏度的高温。两人将冰袋保存在停放在施工现场附近的一辆大型拖挂卡车里，并备有一辆独立运冰车用于送货。
The wave of construction workers inspired Rodgers and his former business partner, Linda Edwards, to cofound Ice Queen in 2025. The business sells $3 bags of ice to subcontractors and companies working on the Meta project. The parish has weathered several heat waves this summer, making ice a necessity for outdoor trade workers. Since July, residents have seen temperatures reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit more than two dozen times. The pair keeps the ice bags in a large tractor-trailer parked near the construction site and has a separate ice truck available to make deliveries.
不过，冰块只是开始，不久之后，“冰雪女王”就转型成了施工人员的某种一站式商店。咖啡机。纸杯。糖包。冰箱。微波炉。吸管。只要你能说得出的，冰雪女王都尽量供应。
Ice was only the beginning, though, and soon Ice Queen transformed into a one-stop shop of sorts for the work crews. Coffee machines. Cups. Sugar packets. Fridges. Microwaves. Straws. You name it, Ice Queen tries to supply it.
当地经济发展机构“增长NELA”（Grow NELA）的总裁兼首席执行官罗伯特·克利夫兰（Robert Cleveland）表示，里奇兰教区正在发生的经济增长是不可否认的。“增长NELA”收集的数据显示，里奇兰教区的年度销售税收入从2024年的2100万美元跃升至2025年的3900万美元。
Robert Cleveland, president and CEO of the local economic development authority, Grow NELA, said the economic growth happening in Richland Parish is undeniable. Data collected by Grow NELA shows that Richland Parish's annual sales tax revenue jumped from $21 million in 2024 to $39 million in 2025.
到2026年底，Grow NELA预计该教区将实现9200万美元的年度销售税收。Grow NELA表示，仅在2025年一年里，里奇兰教区获得的年度销售税收就超过了过去20年的总和。
At the end of 2026, Grow NELA expects the parish will see $92 million in annual sales tax revenue. Richland Parish has gained more annual sales tax revenue in 2025 alone than in the last 20 years combined, Grow NELA says.
克利夫兰表示：“由于该项目，我们有许多小企业涌现并取得了显著增长。”
"We have a number of small businesses that have propped up and have grown significantly because of the project," Cleveland said.
里奇兰教区商业增长的一部分，是为远离家乡的建筑工人提供他们所需的东西：食宿和基本生活必需品。例如，安吉尔和布赖恩·克劳福德夫妇选择通过他们的租赁公司“教区边界地产”来填补住房市场的空白。这对夫妇拥有一处名为“安特利松树”的移动房屋公园，该公园于2025年开业。
Part of the business growth in Richland Parish is supplying construction workers with what they need while they are away from home: lodging, food, and basic necessities. Angel and Bryan Crawford, for example, chose to address the housing market gap with their rental company, Parish Line Properties. The couple owns a mobile home park called Antley Pines that opened in 2025.
安吉尔说：“我们在去年12月增加了两栋房屋，今年5月增加了四栋，最后四栋在7月增加。所有的房屋在我们把它们运进公园之前，就已经收到了Meta工人的定金。”
"We added two homes last December, four this May, and our last four in July. All the homes were secured by deposits from Meta workers before we even got them into the park," Angel said.
距离施工现场八英里的一栋设施齐全的四室两卫移动房屋，平均租金为3000美元。这对夫妇此前从事护理行业，但在成为空巢老人后，决定投身房地产和物业管理。
A fully-furnished four-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home that's eight miles from the construction site costs an average of $3,000. The couple previously worked in the nursing field, but decided to dive into real estate and property management after becoming empty nesters.
安吉尔说：“2024年，我们开始购买那些在市场上挂牌很久或需要大量修缮的老旧房屋。我们当时有一个创建移动房屋公园的愿景，并且在听说Meta的数据中心之前就已经买下了一些土地。”
"In 2024, we started buying older houses that had been on the market for a long time or needed a lot of work. We had a vision to create a mobile home park and already purchased some land when we heard about Meta's data center," Angel said.
该公司目前拥有18处租赁物业，其中14处被业主划拨为产业工人住房。
The company now owns 18 rental properties, 14 of which the owners have set aside as workforce housing.
她说：“地理位置对Meta的工人来说非常重要，因为他们每周工作六到七天，每天工作12个小时以上。他们早上4点半左右出门，晚上7点才回家。”
"Location is very important to Meta's workers because they work six to seven days a week and 12-plus hours a day. They leave around 4:30 in the morning, and they don't come home until 7 at night," she said.
那些漫长的工作日可能会令人筋疲力尽，这使得HeBrews Coffee & Eats等场所深受工人们的欢迎。霍利里奇分店的老板谢尔比·斯蒂芬森表示，他们每月两次向Meta施工现场配送450份午餐。
Those long days can be taxing, making places like HeBrews Coffee & Eats popular with workers. Shelbie Stephenson, owner of the Holly Ridge location, said they deliver 450 lunch plates to the Meta work site twice a month.
斯蒂芬森表示，他们还每月进行几次早餐和咖啡餐饮外送服务。“我们在安全周期间做过900个卷饼和2500杯咖啡，”她说。斯蒂芬森说，施工人员在早晨倾向于订购早餐卷饼、松饼和司康饼。午餐方面，他们通常购买手撕猪肉玉米片、盖浇辣椒牛肉饭、盖浇鸡肉饭或三明治。除了在其实体店营业外，Holy Tacos还为Meta项目的工人提供午餐餐饮外送订单。
Stephenson said they also do breakfast and coffee catering several times a month. "We have done 900 burritos and 2,500 cups of coffee during safety week," she said. Stephenson said the crews tend to order breakfast burritos, muffins, and scones in the morning. For lunch, they typically purchase pulled pork nachos, steak bites with peppers over rice, chicken bits over rice, or a sandwich. Holy Tacos also fulfills lunch catering orders for workers on Meta's project, in addition to serving at its brick-and-mortar location.
“我们去过工人营地——那是建筑工人的临时住所，带上我们的移动设备，为他们烹饪，”艾伦说。他说，施工人员每月会向Holy Tacos订餐一到四次。“餐饮费用从4000美元到7000美元不等，具体取决于规模，”艾伦说。“我们在当地拥有一批不错的拥趸，但加上餐饮外送，我们大约40%的月度业务都与Meta直接相关。”
"We've been out to the man camps, which are the temporary housing for construction workers, took our mobile setup, and cooked for them," Allen said. He said the crews will order from catering from Holy Tacos between one and four times a month. "Catering costs anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000, depending on the size," Allen said. "We have a good local following, but when you add the catering, probably 40% of our monthly business is directly related to Meta."
在路易斯安那州东北部，保持水分也是必不可少的，今年夏天该地区连续遭遇热浪袭击。“成托盘的水是我们赚取大部分钱的地方，因为这里是一个安全问题。炎热和种种因素，”Ice Queen的老板罗杰斯说。“我购买整卡车的瓶装水，每周大概给这些人送30到40托盘的水。”
Staying hydrated is also a must in northeast Louisiana, where a series of heatwaves blanketed the region this summer. "Pallets of water are where we make most of our money because it's a safety issue out here. The heat and all that," Rodgers, the owner of Ice Queen, said. "I buy truckloads of water and deliver probably 30 to 40 pallets of water a week to these guys."
Ice Queen以大约600美元的价格出售一托盘水。Liquid I.V.是一种有助于补充水分的电解质饮料，每小袋售价略高于1美元，是另一款备受瞩目的产品。“Liquid I.V.是最重要的产品之一，因为工人们会严重脱水，”John Rea Realty的房地产经纪人爱德华兹说。“他们以前从未、从来没有遇到过这样的湿热天气。”
Ice Queen sells a pallet of water for about $600. Liquid I.V., an electrolyte drink that helps with hydration, costs just over a $1 per pouch and is another notable product. "The Liquid I.V.'s were one of the most important products because the guys would get so dehydrated," Edwards, a real estate agent with John Rea Realty, said. "They had never, ever encountered the humidity and the heat.
那里的气温可能高达110华氏度。”今年6月，Grow NELA委托进行的一项研究指出，在数据中心建设期间，消费者支出和资本投资将在地方和州层面产生1.629亿美元的销售税收入。虽然Meta暂时将里奇兰帕什变成了一个现代的淘金热城镇，但绝大多数建筑工人最终都会转投其他工作，并带走他们的消费支出。这是里奇兰帕什的企业主们知道即将来临的现实。
It probably got up to 110 degrees out there." In June, a study commissioned by Grow NELA said that consumer spending and capital investments made during the data center's construction period will generate $162.9 million in sales tax revenues at the local and state levels. While Meta has temporarily transformed Richland Parish into a modern-day boomtown, most of the construction workers will eventually move on to other jobs, taking their spending with them. It's a reality that business owners in Richland Parish know is on the horizon.
艾伦表示，“圣塔科斯”餐厅（Holy Tacos）可能会继续为该地区的其他企业提供餐饮外送服务，并依靠餐厅本身进行销售。TJ和凯西表示，“希伯斯咖啡与餐饮”店（HeBrews Coffee & Eats）将依托在Meta到来之前建立的客户群。克劳福德夫妇表示，他们正在考虑在建设结束后出售这些房产或继续将其出租。“冰女王”（Ice Queen）已实现多元化经营，并计划依赖该地区的其他大型客户。
Allen said Holy Tacos would likely continue catering for other businesses in the area and selling out of their restaurant. TJ and Kaycie said HeBrews Coffee & Eats will lean on the clientele it built before Meta arrived. The Crawfords said they are considering either selling the properties or continuing to rent them after construction ends. Ice Queen has diversified and plans to rely on other large-scale clients in the area.
路易斯安那州经济发展局表示，预计Meta将在里奇兰帕什工地施工到2030年。在此之后会发生什么，谁也说不准。不过就目前而言，商机依然存在。
Louisiana Economic Development said Meta is expected to work on the Richland Parish site through 2030. What happens after that is anyone's guess. For now, though, there's money to be made.