The Indianapolis City-County Counci on Monday approved a proposed data center for the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood.
For months, residents of the historically Black Indianapolis neighborhood have pushed back against the proposed development from Metrobloks, a California-based data center developer.
City-County Councilor Jesse Brown attempted to pull the rezoning request from the agenda, which would have delayed the vote and required a public hearing before the council cast a final decision. But only the councilor representing the affected district can make that request — and Brown does not represent Martindale-Brightwood.
“There’s no correct answer that will make everyone happy,” he told WFYI after the vote. “Why would we not err on the side of just calling for a vote, which would then call for a public hearing?”
During the meeting, Brown also introduced a special resolution, a non-binding measure, urging the Metropolitan Development Commission to implement a temporary stay on approvals for high-impact data centers. The measure passed.
In 2025, Metrobloks filed a rezoning request to build a data center complex on a nearly 14-acre site at 2505 N. Sherman Ave., a vacant lot that was a former drive-in theater.
The neighborhood was shaped for decades by industrial growth — from railroad expansion to lead smelting. When those industries closed, they left behind contamination that residents have spent years trying to clean up.
Residents have largely opposed the data center, citing long-standing 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.
Data centers are facilities that store and process large amounts of digital information. Their rapid expansion has been driven by the rise of artificial intelligence and increased demand for data storage, with companies increasingly flocking to states like Indiana for cheaper land and tax abatements approved by the state legislature in 2019.
The Metrobloks facility would draw electricity through contracts with AES Indiana, the local utility, rather than pulling from the residential grid, according to a letter in the petition filing. The company says the data center will use a closed-loop cooling system — water is added once during construction and then continuously recirculated rather than consumed. The first building would require about 19,000 gallons to fill; the second, about 47,500 gallons.
Metrobloks has made the claim that this design uses far less water than warehouses or light manufacturing facilities permitted under the site’s current industrial zoning.
City-County Councilor Ron Gibson, who represents the area, supports the project and argues it’s different from larger-scale data centers proposed elsewhere in the region. In April, Gibson’s home was shot, leaving behind a note that said “No Data Centers.” No one has been arrested for the incident.
This article was written by WFYI reporter Farrah Anderson.