In 2024, Atlanta banned data centers within a half mile of MARTA stations. The reasoning? Developments around mass transit stations must be high-density and people-oriented.
Data centers are quite the opposite. The policy was celebrated as a national model for how cities should manage the nationwide data center boom.
Now, two council members are trying to backtrack.
Councilmembers Antonio Lewis and Eshé Collins introduced an ordinance allowing Digital Realty — one of the world’s largest data center operators — to build at 713 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard (RDA), just 250 feet from the West End MARTA Station.
I live in Adair Park, where 713 RDA is located. Our community has made its position clear, and at our meeting April 13, residents voted 105-87 against this project.
The reason isn’t opposition to development. Southwest Atlanta is in the middle of a genuine renaissance — One West End, Murphy’s Crossing, Oakland Exchange, Pittsburgh Yards, and the Westside Beltline finally connecting to the Eastside Trail. After decades of neglect, our neighborhoods are finally getting the people-centric developments we deserve, and we want that to continue.
Why most neighbors opposed this project
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
According to the legislation, the data center proposed for 713 RDA is a maximum 350,000 square feet, the size of six football fields. It’s capped at 100 megawatts of power, enough to power 65,000 homes.
Even with its proposed water-saving closed-loop cooling system, it would use about 100,000 gallons of water a day, the equivalent of 2,000 homes.
According to Digital Realty’s own guidelines, it is a hyper-scale data center.
Digital Realty claims this project will create 150 jobs, yet their existing Atlanta facility at 56 Marietta Street appears to employ only 30 full-time staff, according to a review of badge swipes from employment data they provided.
QTS’s 1 million square foot data center in West Atlanta only employs 75 people.
Several residents are hoping to negotiate a community benefits agreement (CBA). But Digital Realty has never signed a CBA with any community surrounding its 300-plus data centers worldwide. Ample reason for skepticism.
Every neighborhood planning unit (NPU) surrounding the site has now voted to oppose the zoning exception (NPU-V, T, X and S). Of the neighborhoods that comprise NPU-V (home to 713 RDA), Pittsburgh and Mechanicsville offered only conditional support for the project.
That condition is significant, and Digital Realty is far from satisfying it: a robust, signed, legally binding CBA. These processes typically take a year or more to complete.
Credit: Courtesy of Digital Realty
Credit: Courtesy of Digital Realty
A diverse grassroots coalition — legacy neighbors, newcomers, Black, white, homeowners, renters, young and elderly — have linked arms to oppose a data center on this site. While we bring different sets of concerns to the table, from noise to water usage to electrical demands, we agree that 713 RDA should be built for people, not computer servers.
Bring community vision to life
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
At a time when neighbors need affordable housing, a data center is the last thing our community needs.
The 12-acre site at 713 RDA is currently zoned in the Adair Park/West End Special Public Interest District as ideal for a live-work-play mixed-use development (SPI 21, Subarea 9).
In 2019, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Centers Initiative identified it as a prime candidate for mixed-use residential development. It is located within the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD) and sits right in the middle of the Mayor’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. Are data centers next to transit part of the mayor’s bold vision for Atlanta’s future?
While proponents claim that site remediation costs make residential and retail development impossible, nearby brownfield cleanup success stories like The Vivian (a former battery factory site turned into a beautiful apartment complex) say otherwise.
Councilmember Lewis has thus far refused to respond to community requests for the source of his $40 million estimate for cleanup of the site. Our sources estimate the cost at $12 million. The question is not cost. The real question is, do our leaders have the political will to bring our community vision to life?
The 2024 ban exists because Atlanta recognized that transit-adjacent land is too valuable to waste on non-people-centered development. The best transportation policy is a good land use policy. Carving out an exception for a single corporation — before the community has seen a single binding commitment — would betray both the policy and the people it was meant to protect. It will also set a precedent for future exceptions across the city, at a time when we, the taxpayers, are being asked to support a 30-year vision for neighborhood revitalization.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
We agree with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens: “While important, data centers can also make it more difficult to develop affordable housing, grocery, greenspace, and retail, which are all more suitable projects for the urban core of our city (...) Moreover, the centers are being pushed into underserved, traditionally African-American areas that have been starved of equitable development and amenities. This is unacceptable.”
On April 27, Councilwoman Eshé Collins removed her sponsorship of the legislation. However she emphasized this does not signify her opposition, so we urge Councilmembers Eshé Collins and Antonio Lewis to hear our concerns and withdraw their support for the legislation.
Brendan Horgan is an Adair Park resident and member of the Land Use Committee, a stay-at-home father of three, a handyman and a beekeeper.
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