Metropolitan Development Commission approves $4B data center plan over resident objections

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28 Comments

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    1. “Sabey plans to pursue a tax abatement and is currently working with Indianapolis Economic Development Inc. on the specifics of that request.”

      And ratepayers will be stuck paying for upgrades to the grid.

    2. Provided they don’t give all of it away in TIF and business personal property abatements.

    1. Closed loop cooling system so same water without the dumping and need for new water constantly like the old systems.

  1. Jeez. If I were a data center developer, and I saw that there is not only no such project the City will not support, but allow variance filings, I’d be filing those flimsy zoning permits to get vested for three years. Municipal prostitution at its finest. What’s with the vote tally screw up at the end? Someone mess up the fix? At best, the need to read the cast ballots into the record for the sake of transparency.

  2. Well done, MDC! The U.S. is in a strategic competition with China in AI, and expanding our data center capacity is essential to maintaining that edge.

    These projects deliver high-quality jobs, generate meaningful local tax revenue, and operate with minimal disruption to surrounding communities.

    When the facts are fully understood, the case for moving them forward is clear and compelling.

  3. Good for the MDC … and Councilman Bain … undeterred by ridiculous emotional opposition. There is enough populist stupidity in the culture thanks in no small measure to the reality show star masquerading as the president. Perhaps there is some hope, after all.

    1. The car brain worms are getting more advanced, hope you find help for yours. The cure can be found at your local bicycle store.

  4. “Approval of the project would be ‘forfeiting a ton of potential for our community and putting in place a hazard.’ First, what alternative plans were on the table for the site? I’m guessing none. Second, what hazard will the data center pose? Again, I’m guessing the is none.

    1. Noise pollution, light pollution, demands on the grid we will pay for, shall I go on? We’re selling out our resources to billionaire tech companies, and getting 50 jobs in return.

    2. Noise and light “pollution” are not “hazards” (hospitals are not full of patients suffering from too much noise or light). And the city is getting an additional $22 million a year in property taxes that can fill a lot of potholes and much more. No one else had a viable plan for that vacant land.

    3. It’s simply not true that noise and light pollution don’t adversely affect our health. Regardless, the communities living next to these proposals should have the final say, as they’re the ones who will be most affected. Pothole filling in your neighborhood shouldn’t rely on the kids in that neighborhood growing up next to diesel generators. Imagine the furor if data centers started getting built in the vast tracts of “vacant land” in Westfield, Carmel, etc. dropping these in already underserved and neglected communities is not the answer.

  5. Fact check: “Faegre Drinker Attorney Mindy Westrick Brown called the project the largest investment in Indianapolis in recent years”.

    One of the largest, but not the largest. That would be the 44-acre IUHealth Hospital and Med School Complex. January 2023 headline: “IU Health raises price tag on new downtown Indianapolis hospital campus to $4.3 billion.” I’d imagine it’s even higher now, since steel and cement tariffs started in the middle of construction.

  6. Seems like a good environmental and esthetic compromise, and a sensible location. We’ve got to build these places SOMEWHERE — otherwise folks you need to dump your computers and cellphones. I understand some push back and compromise, it’s the great American way, but for the life of me I don’t understand how these places are worse than all those vacuous warehouse complexes that eat land, bring incredible semi-truck wear, tear, and noise, and few if any good-paying jobs, considering all the land and resources they gobble up.

    1. Michael, Kentucky and Camby IS currently farmland in “the suburbs”. It’s about as far as you can get from downtown and still be inside Marion County, and it’s across Kentucky Ave. (SR67) from the Ameriplex office/warehouse/distribution complex.

    2. So you agree they can also be dropped into the middle of Carmel, Westfield, etc with no concern?

    3. Is it really a suburb? You do know there are more classifications than urban and suburban, right?

  7. This was already zoned light industrial. Any nearby neighbors really don’t have a reason to complain. They moved next to an industrial park or stayed there long after the planned construction of such. Instead of fighting it they should have recognize the uphill battle to go against a business that is allowed for current zoning, they should have been demanding landscape, infrastructure, fencing, pathway and lighting demands.

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