Metrobloks files re-zoning proposal with Indianapolis for Martindale Brightwood data center

Metrobloks — an out-of-state data center development company — filed a formal application with the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development in order to build a new facility in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood.

The company filed the re-zoning petition with the city on Oct. 16, according to DMD, just days after neighborhood residents stopped traffic during a protest against the development. The conflict over the data center is one of the latest in Indianapolis: Google withdrew a proposal after pushback for a much larger project in Franklin Township in September.

The proposed facility would occupy a nearly 14-acre plot of land on Sherman Avenue at the site of a former drive-in theater. Documents filed with the city show that the company plans to build two buildings and a parking lot on the site. The proposal includes plans for generators and cooling systems, as well as noise and light studies.

Residents of Martindale Brightwood raised concerns at the protest over utility costs, environmental impacts like pollution, and that the project would not bring long-term benefits to the neighborhood and its residents.

“We would like to see development that is in alignment with our quality of life plan, which definitely has an environmental justice component, but also has wellness components,” said Cierra Johnson, the vice president of One Voice Martindale Brightwood.

The community organization is an umbrella coalition of neighborhood groups including the Environmental Justice Collaborative.

Johnson said that after a community meeting with metrobloks, the company pulled out of another planned for late October. She said One Voice was not satisfied with answers to its questions and they have not had contact with the company since then. They were not aware that the company had filed its proposal until recently, she said.

In its proposal filings, metrobloks said it will work with the utility company to prevent financial impact to local residents by purchasing long-term agreements and paying for any infrastructure upgrades. It also says it will not use groundwater, and that cooling systems are “closed-loop” — meaning they will recycle water.

The company said that there will be dozens of jobs during the initial construction period. There will be fewer long-term jobs for high-skilled workers, but metrobloks is “open to training and internships for local residents.”

“The parcel in question has served in the past as a truck facility and railyard, and we seek to build a modern, sustainable data center on this parcel. Metrobloks does not develop hyperscale data centers, instead, our data center is smaller, more efficient, and designed to fit the local grid and neighborhood, not overwhelm it,” metrobloks Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer Alejandro Maldonado said in an email to WFYI.

“Metrobloks is committed to being a good neighbor and developing responsibly, without putting pressure on local water or power resources,” he added.

Ron Gibson, a City-County Council member whose district includes Martindale Brightwood, supports the project and holds that it is different from larger-scale data center projects.

“This proposed developer will uphold all the costs. There will be no cost off to residents, in terms of any utilities in terms of their project. They made their commitment outright, and we will hold them accountable for that,” he said.

Residents can share feedback with the city at a public hearing on the re-zoning petition. A hearing with the Metropolitan Development Commission is not scheduled yet.

Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.