A collection of Atlanta neighborhoods voted Monday night to formally oppose a controversial data center proposal near the West End MARTA station and Beltline.
But the vote result doesn’t tell the full story. Beneath the surface lies a divided cluster of neighborhoods grappling with rapid change and renewed development interest after decades of neglect.
The tally of the vote by Neighborhood Planning Unit V was 105-87 against endorsing legislation that would make the data center project by Digital Realty possible. The $500 million plan aims to develop a polluted and vacant film production park in Adair Park, located near the border of Mechanicsville. It’s the first project vying to get an exemption from Atlanta’s new ban on data centers within a half-mile of train stations and the Beltline.
The divide sends a cloudy message to the Atlanta City Council, which will have the final say on whether to exempt the property from its data center bans.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Donald Shockey, land use chair for NPU-V, told the crowd at Georgia State University’s basketball arena that mixed-use development would better complement the nearby MARTA station.
“It’s really about the opportunity cost of allowing this land to be developed,” he said.
Leaders from abutting neighborhoods, however, had a different plea.
David Holder, chair of the Mechanicsville Neighborhood Association, said residents who live near Digital Realty’s proposal support the promised investment. He specifically pointed to those living in the GE Tower apartment homes, the most dense housing development near the project site.
They “would experience the tangible effects of this development daily,” Holder said, referencing the project’s jobs and tax revenue potential. “The community is in support of it.”
After the count was tallied, NPU-V Chair Caitlin Barringer emphasized, “We are only a recommending body.” The council tends to rely on NPU votes to gauge community support and rarely bucks those recommendations. However, the council last year approved a plan to redevelop Amsterdam Walk despite its NPU voting 77% against it.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
“This has not been finalized. We are waiting for your community feedback on this,” Eshé Collins, one of the council members sponsoring the legislation that would make Digital Realty’s proposal possible, said before the vote.
Project details
Digital Realty proposed its project in 2024 just after the City Council implemented its ban. Councilman Antonio Lewis sponsored the legislation, but he withdrew it after garnering sharp pushback — including from Mayor Andre Dickens.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Lewis and Collins revived the proposal last fall. Lewis argued the renewed effort includes guardrails and restrictions.
Digital Realty’s proposal is to build a 282,000-square-foot facility it calls a data exchange to amplify the capabilities of downtown facilities called carrier hotels. It would have an electrical capacity of 30 megawatts — enough power for nearly 23,000 homes — and would be joined by about 35,000 square feet of retail space.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
The project site is at 713 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., a former printing press building that supported magazines for the Ruralist Press. It’s now vacant and advertised as a filming location.
It will need brownfield remediation for any potential pollution to bring it up to commercial standards at a price tag Digital Realty estimates at $20 million. It would be more expensive to clean up to residential standards, but project opponents say that doesn’t mean they should settle.
Evolving neighborhoods
Located a few miles southwest of downtown Atlanta, this cluster of neighborhoods is undergoing rapid change.
Adair Park and its neighbors developed as streetcar suburbs surrounded by industry. Blue collar work supported by railways and factories inspired the name of Mechanicsville and nearby Pittsburgh, which was reminiscent of Pennsylvania steel mills in its heyday.
Adair Park was historically white before the white flight of the mid-1900s, while Pittsburgh is one of Atlanta’s most storied Black communities founded by formerly enslaved people. The neighborhoods are in various stages of gentrification, spurred by the Beltline.
Those tensions boiled beneath the surface during the NPU-V vote. It’s a dynamic in historically Black neighborhoods that Lewis mentioned to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, saying some longtime residents were more likely to support the investment after being overlooked for generations.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Drew Owen, chair of the Adair Park neighborhood, said his neighborhood isn’t alone in its opposition. He said the West End, Oakland City and Capitol View neighborhoods also signaled their opposition to Digital Realty’s project, along with neighboring NPU-T.
Johnny Floyd, a longtime Pittsburgh resident and former neighborhood president, countered that drumming up unrelated opposition outside of NPU-V only serves to dilute the opinions of those most affected.
In its effort to gain support, Digital Realty is reserving some of the property for retail shops and negotiating a community benefits agreement with the surrounding neighborhoods. The company is also prepared to deposit $5 million into a community trust.
But because the community benefits agreement isn’t finalized, those details aren’t binding. They also typically don’t transfer if the property ownership changes in the future, while the exemption allowing the data center would carry over.
“If we vote for this now, we are giving them a blank check,” NPU-V member Tyrone Clements said. “… There will be nothing stopping them from going back on their word.”
The proposal will go before the city’s zoning review board in May and is expected to go to the City Council for a final vote in June.
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