A data center proposal that was previously shot down has resurfaced in southwest Atlanta along with the debate over land use, equity, and who benefits from development in historically disinvested communities.
The project, planned for a site near the West End MARTA station and bordering communities like Adair Park, Pittsburgh, and Mechanicsville, has been hotly contested for more than a year.
“Specifically on the south and west side of the city, where you’ve had underinvestments for many years, we’re trying to be more intentional about what we bring in our area, so this data center is front and center right now,” said Delvin Davis, president of the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Association and a fourth-generation resident.
After the Atlanta City Council passed legislation in 2024 limiting data centers near transit hubs, a site-specific exception was introduced to allow a data center to be built near the West End MARTA station. Ultimately the proposal was defeated after opposition from residents in Adair Park, neighborhood planning units, and an intervention by Mayor Andre Dickens.
Many residents assumed the issue was settled, but now a revised version of the same proposal, which now includes new requirements for the project, was picked up by the City Council last month and will need to be voted on once again.
This comes at a time when the state is experiencing a rapid expansion of data centers, raising concerns among advocates and lawmakers alike due to possible utility bill hikes for residents and their overall massive energy and water use.
Science for Georgia, an advocacy group, estimates that as of February 2025, all the current and planned data centers in the state would require the same amount of energy that it takes to power around 3.9 million homes.
Data centers also need water to operate so that air conditioning can continuously run to keep the computers inside the facility from overheating. Science for Georgia estimates that all current data centers in the state require around 27 billion gallons of water a year to operate.
A coalition of southwest Atlanta neighborhoods argues that the data center project will generate few permanent jobs, consume large amounts of energy, and block opportunities for housing.
“We have limited MARTA stations, and the land near them needs to be developed to fully utilize development for residents, goods, services, and jobs, and data centers do not provide any of those — they are essentially taking up a large amount of space just to house servers,” said Matt Garbett, the land use chair of Adair Park Today.
While Garbett said that he and other Adair Park residents remain firmly opposed to the project, in Pittsburgh, the conversation is less settled.
Davis said residents have raised questions about the environmental and infrastructure impacts of the project, but at the same time, he said some residents are focused on what leverage the community might have if the project ultimately moves forward.
“If it’s something that we can’t legitimately fight, or if it’s going to be something that City Hall is going to rubber stamp anyway, then we don’t want our communities to be left behind,” he said.
Davis said the new proposal would include a community benefits agreement, and residents have discussed ideas for what they would want to see included in the project, such as expanding Wi-Fi to the community or job training tied to the site.
While he said he’s personally opposed to the project, he believes the community must be prepared and deserves to have a voice in what developments come to their neighborhood.
“I don’t want it,” he said. “But if it has to come, then we want to make sure that we benefit from it 100%.”
As the proposal continues circulating among neighborhood associations, residents in southwest Atlanta say the outcome will depend on community engagement and city leadership.
“We want to make sure that we are a part of development,” Davis said. “And it’s not something that’s steamrolling us and just leaving all of us behind.”
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