Data centers in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: 4 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Charlotte has several data centers under construction or in the pipeline, from a small uptown facility to two large campuses on the city's edges. In uptown's First Ward, Digital Realty owns most of a block on East Trade Street and is building a 12-megawatt, four-story data center there, work that means demolishing the historic 1920s Court Arcade Building. The project is allowed under Charlotte's zoning rules without a public hearing; planning commissioner Clayton Sealey, speaking for himself, said the facility "would draw far less power and water than the outlying campuses."

The larger campuses are on the edges. City Council approved PowerHouse Data Centers' rezoning off University City Boulevard in 2023 on a 7-2 vote; PowerHouse and investment firm Town Lane have since bought the 122 acres for a five-building campus with 300 megawatts of power secured, possibly rising to 500 megawatts, by April 2027, with Duke Energy building a new substation on site. In May 2025 the council also rezoned Digital Realty's 156 acres on Moores Chapel Road in west Charlotte for a proposed 400-megawatt, 3-million-square-foot campus.

The suburbs have pushed back. In Matthews, developers of "Project Accelerate," five buildings on 123 acres that could have drawn up to 600 megawatts, withdrew their rezoning request on October 7, 2025, days before a vote, after opposition over rising electricity costs. On June 8, 2026, Charlotte City Council unanimously approved a 150-day moratorium on new data centers, running through November 5, while staff draft rules. "When we can agree on the facts, then we can talk about good policy," said council member Victoria Watlington.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.