A week ahead of a key vote, the company that seeks to build a data center near Irvington has removed an entire building from its site plan in response to community backlash.
The scaled-back proposal from Atlanta-based DC BLOX consolidates three facilities into two and will feature 25 fewer backup diesel generators, a roughly 35% reduction in electricity demand, and a larger buffer zone south of the Pennsy Trail and an adjacent elementary school.
The company still expects the project to create up to 600 construction jobs and bring about $2 billion in investment — a mix of construction costs and clients’ spending on computing equipment to store data. But the new proposal will create 17 permanent jobs, about half as many as originally planned.
“These layout changes represent a proactive step by DC BLOX that addresses community feedback regarding neighborhood density, utility capacity, and visual impact,” spokeswoman Nichole Thomas said in a July 8 press release, “while maintaining the massive economic and tax-base advantages of the $2 billion tech infrastructure investment.”
The change comes a week before the company’s use variance request is set for a vote in a July 15 Metropolitan Development Commission hearing. The original plans called for three buildings spanning 410,000 square feet, requiring 56 diesel generators and close to 80 megawatts of power demand.
If the plans at 305 Fintail Drive are approved, the company says the first building, a one-story facility between about 70,000-80,000 square feet, will likely be finished within two years. The second building, a two-story roughly 250,000-square-foot center, could begin construction in 2029 and be finished by 2031. Together, they would use an estimated 31 generators and about 50 megawatts.
Community backlash prompts environmental pledges
Many east-side residents have organized against the planned data center for months, packing a June 11 meeting where the company received preliminary approval. Among their chief complaints are that the data center could bring noise, air pollution and a spike in local electricity demand within a mile of thousands of residences while creating relatively few jobs.
DC BLOX has touted the tax benefits and union construction jobs a data center campus would bring to a blighted industrial site, where more popular uses like housing or a park are prohibited by state law. They say the finished campus, at the site of a former Ford manufacturing plant, would be “among the largest property-tax contributors” in Warren Township and Marion County.
The company recently pledged 20 commitments, including to pay 100% of its utility costs, protect air quality by capturing 95% of particulate emissions on diesel generators, and to minimize water usage with a closed-loop or waterless system to cool its whirring computers. DC BLOX would also contribute $100,000 over five years to Pennsy Trail improvements and a “multi-million dollar investment … to meet priority needs of the community.”
While many residents demand a moratorium on new data centers, the city recently advanced regulations on the unprecedented developments.
A proposal moving through the Indianapolis City-County Council aims to keep the facilities at least 400 feet away from protected districts like neighborhoods, limit sound levels to 65 decibels and require detailed site plans that address common concerns like water and energy usage. Councilors plan to hear public comment on the regulations at the July 13 Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee meeting, where the proposal could be advanced to the full council for a vote in August.
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Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: DC BLOX cuts building from data center plans near Irvington, makes environmental pledges
Reporting by Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
