This story will be updated.
The Metropolitan Development Commission voted 6-1 Wednesday to approve a scaled-back data center campus on Indianapolis' east side in Warren Township.
The vote comes after Georgia-based developer DC Blox cut its original proposal from three buildings to two and reduced the number of diesel generators on site by half.
DC Blox initially proposed a $2 billion campus with three buildings totaling up to 420,000 square feet and housing up to 56 diesel generators. The proposed campus is at the corner of South Kitley Avenue and the Pennsy Trail in the East Gate neighborhood.
After community pushback, the developer proposed two buildings instead of three, with 25 fewer backup diesel generators and a larger buffer south of the Pennsy Trail. DC Blox said the project will be built in two phases — a one-story, 70,000-square-foot building expected to be completed within two years, followed by a two-story, 250,000-square-foot building roughly five years out.
The site of the proposed data center is on the border of two districts represented by members of the Indianapolis City-County Council — Councilor Andy Nielsen and Councilor Michael-Paul Hart.
The councilors disagree on the development. Nielsen, who is against the proposal, largely based on the dissent from the community. In his comments at the meeting, Nielsen said that 83% of the respondents of a survey he put out to gauge community support said they were opposed to the data center.
Farrah Anderson is WFYI's investigative health reporter. You can follow her on X at @farrahsoa or by email at fanderson@wfyi.org
