Despite outcry from roughly around 90 residents protesting the project, the Metropolitan Development Commission overwhelmingly approved Sabey Data Centers to construct one of the city’s first hyperscale data center projects, spanning roughly 18 football fields.
John J. Dillon III, president of the Metropolitan Development Commission, thanked residents for their participation in the zoning process. He said he’s traveled to an operating Indiana data center and one under construction to learn more about them.
Hyperscale data centers are typically defined as being at least 10,000 square feet, containing 5,000 or more servers and drawing more than 50 megawatts of power. Sabey’s data hub is expected to be more than one million square feet and use 250 megawatts over a five-year period. The company has not revealed the number of servers it would use.
Residents have opposed the project for months, citing fears of pollution, health impacts and lower property values. Pat Andrews is a longtime southsider who chairs Decatur Township Civic Council’s land use committee. She testified on behalf of neighbors in front of the city’s zoning officials March 18 and said the development will impact residents’ quality of life and provide fewer jobs.
“We are forfeiting potential for our community and putting in place a hazard for our community,” Andrews said. “There are more appropriate places for something like this and this just is not it.”
Protect Decatur Township, a local grassroots neighborhood organization against the data center, previously called on local government leaders to publicly oppose the decision or at least delay the vote until the City-County Council could implement data center regulations, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
City-County councilor Josh Bain, who represents the area, did not attend the prior meeting with the commission’s hearing examiner, but he was present for the Metropolitan Development Commission meeting. Bain, who has been negotiating with Sabey since summer 2025, apologized to residents who feel he has let them down.
“I would never support or even remain neutral on a petition if I believed there was real evidence it was harmful to the community,” Bain told commissioners.
Bain also said he toured Sabey’s 430,000-square-foot data center in Round Rock, Texas, and didn’t notice noise pollution.
Now, Andrews and community members fear Sabey’s win will serve as a playbook for other tech companies looking to rezone property to build more data centers.
How we got here
About 75 other residents, such as those with the Central Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, were excited about Sabey’s win since the tech company’s representatives say the project would create jobs paying around $105,200 annually to more than 1,000 construction workers over six to 10 years.
Jon Hooker, president of the Central Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, said the group supports the project because it would provide more stability for construction workers instead of typical construction gigs that may only last six months.
“We’re not carrying the water for data centers,” Hooker said. “We’re carrying the water for construction jobs and that’s what we’re here for.”
The property on the southwest side of Indianapolis used to be farmland. Roughly five years ago, residents supported the city’s decision to rezone the area near Camby Road and Kentucky Avenue to create the Decatur Technology Park. The plan was to accommodate light industrial facilities, such as manufacturing buildings, that would bring hundreds of long-term jobs to the area.
Sabey claims a light industrial project on the site would have only provided jobs with annual salaries of about $38,000. Instead, Sabey will have roughly 180 long-term employees who will make around $101,500 a year, based on the number of parking spaces requested for the development.
Still, residents are worried their voices aren’t being heard.
Last year, Protect Franklin Township residents were able to defeat Google’s data center proposal. They initially lost votes against the project before city’s hearing examiner and the Metropolitan Development Commission, but they were able to persuade enough City-County Councilors to vote against the project, ultimately leading to Google withdrawing its proposal.
But, Decatur Township residents won’t have the same fate.
Since Sabey’s project already allows for industrial use on the 130-acre site and it’s only asking for adjustments to the property, not a complete rezoning, they’re able to bypass approval from the City-County Council.
“Industrial-2 zoning is being bent to justify uses it was not clearly written to allow,” said Randi Berryman, a leader with Protect Decatur Township. “We should not rely on workarounds and exceptions to determine the future of our neighborhoods. Zoning exists to provide clarity, predictability, and protection for communities.”
Next steps
While Sabey was approved to build the facility, the city still needs to sign off on tax incentives. Last year, the billion-dollar company requested a 50% property tax abatement, but Sabey staff insisted residents would still see an increase in tax revenue.
The property currently generates about $16,000 annually in property taxes. Over the next decade, Sabey said its facility is projected to bring at least $10 million in property taxes for schools, fire department and other public services. Then, after the tax breaks expire, the amount would double.
Since the property isn’t located in a tax increment financing district, which is an area with adjusted property tax rules to incentivize developers, it will not be voted on by the City-County Council.
Bain and Doug Brown, an attorney for the Indianapolis Economic Development Inc., a city nonprofit in charge of business development, both support a tax incentive package for Sabey.
The Metropolitan Development Commission is expected to discuss Sabey’s economic incentive package during a future meeting at the City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St.
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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