* Hunt family, known for owning NFL's Kansas City Chiefs,

leads initiative

* Group agreed to buy a powered facility for $230 million,

people say

* Partners plan to repurpose powered facilities into data

centers

By Sabrina Valle and David French

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Members of the Texas

billionaire Hunt and Crow families have partnered with

Nasdaq-listed bitcoin-focused financial firm Empery Digital ( EMPD )

to invest in data centers for hyperscalers, according

to people familiar with the matter.

The group agreed to buy a Midwest industrial facility for

$230 million that has 150 megawatts of capacity and will be

repurposed as a data center, the people said. In parallel, the

group signed a non-binding letter of intent for a $1 billion

leasing contract with a cloud computing company, they added.

The initiative combines Hunt's expertise in power with the

Crow family's real estate know-how and Empery Digital's ( EMPD ) access

to public markets.

The partners expect the project to be the first of a series of

acquisitions to build a data center business, the people said.

They all declined to be identified because the information is

private.

The investment comes as growing artificial intelligence

workloads drive demand for data center capacity, with power

supply emerging as a key constraint.

The Hunt family is better known in Texas for its oil fortune

and owning the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, while Crow is one of

the largest real estate dynasties in the U.S.

Investing in data centers will allow the Dallas families

with roots in energy and property to secure large electricity

contracts and long-term tenants.

Empery Digital ( EMPD ) is a Nasdaq-listed, bitcoin-focused

investment company with a market capitalization of about $100

million.

The partners plan to buy underutilized powered land

properties, secure leases with hyperscalers and turn the sites

into data centers, the people said.

Empery Digital ( EMPD ) has separately agreed to buy for $65 million

a 25% stake in a private entity managed by an affiliate of Hunt

Properties. The Crow family participates as minority partners,

the people said.

The formal connection of the Crow family, which owns Crow

Holdings, has not been identified, the people said.

The Midwest facility has operated as a power-intensive

industrial site for the past three years. It includes an owned

substation and associated infrastructure for the approximately

150 MW of currently available capacity under an existing power

agreement with the local utility, the people said.

Capacity could potentially double to approximately 300 MW,

the people said.

The Hunt-led private entity has executed a non-binding

letter of intent to finalize a lease with an undisclosed cloud

computing company that could potentially produce $1 billion in

payments, the sources said.

Clear Street and law firm Ropes & Gray are advising Empery

Digital ( EMPD ), and Lake Street and Davis Polk & Wardwell are advising

the industrial facility acquisition, the people said.