NO DATA CENTER HERE!

In April 2026, despite months of pushback from residents, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC) approved a rezoning request that enables the Metrobloks data center to move forward in Martindale Brightwood. The City-County Council rubber stamped the rezoning request in May.

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Now, the Los Angeles based developer wants our city government to give them $56 million in tax breaks. In addition, any tenants of the data center could save another $339 million under the tax incentive deal put together by Metrobloks and Indy Economic Development (IEDI).

The Community of Martindale Brightwood does not want a data center to be built in our community for the following reasons:

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Environmental Concerns

• Water Usage: Data centers require vast amounts of water for cooling their servers, potentially straining local water resources and aquifers.
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• Energy Consumption: These facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity, which can place a significant demand on local power grids and potentially lead to higher energy costs for residents.
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• Noise and Heat Pollution: The constant hum of servers and cooling systems, as well as heat generated by operations, can create persistent noise and thermal pollution for nearby communities.
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• Air Quality: The use of diesel generators for backup power can release air pollution, and construction itself can create significant dust and other pollutants.

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Economic and Infrastructure Concerns

• Limited Local Jobs: While data centers may create some temporary construction jobs, the permanent employment opportunities are often few compared to the massive scale and public subsidy of the projects.
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• Water Use: The extreme water demands can strain existing local water resources and infrastructure and require costly new developments, with potential costs passed on to water ratepayers.
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• Land Use: The footprint of data centers can permanently change local land use patterns, potentially limiting other forms of development or altering a community's character.
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• Electric rate hikes: AES is currently in the process of raising rates, despite significant public outcry about how unaffordable AES electric bills already are. The current AES rate hike does not include any additional generation resources for data centers. That means that any data centers built in AES’s service territory will likely cause AES to request even more rate hikes in the future to pay for the immense infrastructure and energy generation that data centers require.
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• Tax Incentives & Public Subsidies: Metrobloks has signaled interest in public incentives or subsidies to fund the project. Residents question why taxpayer resources should support a private development that offers no clear public benefit.

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The folks who live in Martindale Brightwood take pride in our community. As a community we seek businesses that will add value to our already underinvested area, and we do not believe this data center will add value. So far, the questions posed to Metrobloks by community members have been met with vague and unsatisfactory answers during community meetings.

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Martindale Brightwood needs employment opportunities that are long term and provide a liveable wage from businesses that are willing to partner with the community and become an important part of the fabric of our neighborhoods, and the proposed Metrobloks data center does not meet this criteria.

For more info, visit the Protect Martindale Brightwood Facebook page and citact.org/ai-data-centers.

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