Martindale Brightwood residents call on Mayor Hogsett to stop data center development

For months, residents in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood on Indianapolis’ northeast side have pushed back against a proposed 14-acre data center from Metrobloks.

The project faces a key rezoning hearing on Thursday. As the date nears, community members are calling on Mayor Joe Hogsett to intervene in the historically Black neighborhood’s latest development fight. They argue the development could permanently reshape the neighborhood, which has long battled a history of pollution left behind by industrial development. 

"We don't want any more closed-door deals,” said Shonna Majors, executive director of the Brightwood Community Center, who formerly worked for the city as a part of the Hogsett administration's violence prevention initiative. 

“We live here, we work here, we play here, we worship here,” Majors said during a press conference Tuesday at the Martindale Brightwood Community Development Corporation

But the Hogsett administration said they won’t be getting involved in rezoning issues. 

Following the precedent set by previous administrations, this administration does not get involved in zoning decisions, spokesperson for Hogsett wrote in a statement. “Zoning is a highly technical process that involves multiple steps, reviews, and approvals from bodies like the Metropolitan Development Commission and in some cases the City-County Council.” 

Paula Brooks with the Hoosier Environmental Council disagreed. She said the data center proposal is not just about land use. She points out that Hogsett also chairs Indy Economic Development, a city-affiliated nonprofit that helps shape large-scale development projects.

“This is not a zoning decision,” Brooks said. “This is a transformational industrial project, [a] heavy industrial project that will transform this neighborhood, and not for the better.” 

Residents of the community say the proposal has reignited longstanding concerns about pollution in the area — including lead-contaminated soil — and fears that the project could bring additional burdens related to noise, water use and power demand. 

So far, the rezoning requests submitted by Metrobloks to build the nearly 14-acre data center have not been heard in any public hearings with authority over rezoning decisions. 

This Thursday, the Metropolitan Development Commission’s hearing examiner will hear the requests, and decide whether to recommend that the MDC pass the rezoning request. 

If the request is approved by the commission, District Councilor Ron Gibson, could “call down” the rezoning request for a vote by the entire City-County Council. The full council can override the MDC, similar to the action Councilor Michael Paul-Hart took with Google’s proposed data center in Franklin Township last year. 

But Gibson supports the Metrobloks proposal, arguing in a letter to the commission that the proposal is “a rare and significant opportunity to transform this longtime dormant site into a productive, modern asset that aligns with Indianapolis' long-term economic development goals.” 

In public meetings and press conferences, residents of Martindale-Brightwood say their skepticism toward new development is rooted in experience. Past industrial projects and development have left the neighborhood with contaminated soil and other environmental issues. 

The site on Sherman Avenue where Metrobloks wants to build the data center is a designated brownfield — land left vacant and often polluted by past industrial use.

Martindale-Brightwood native and resident Delma Williams said developers have long come into the neighborhood with proposals that promised progress — but rarely delivered value for residents. She’s firmly opposed to the data center, which she said would do little to benefit the community.

“It’s been sitting there for 40 years,” Williams said. “It can sit there another 40 years if this is the best you can do for our community.”

“We don’t need it,” she added. “We’ve survived this long without it, and we’ll keep fighting until the very end.”

Farrah Anderson is an investigative health reporter with WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. You can follow her on X at @farrahsoa or by email at fanderson@wfyi.org.