Atlas Battey Business Complex data center, Rome, Georgia

Atlas Development has ended its agreement to buy the Battey Business Complex in Rome, Georgia, for a data center, Rome-Floyd County Development Authority Chairman Jimmy Byars confirmed in August 2026. The site was the remaining 100 acres of the former Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital campus along North Division Street in West Rome, in Floyd County. The reason was power: Georgia Power moved the property down its connection queue, Rome City Attorney Andy Davis said.

"The Battey property had been put into the queue and got moved down further in the queue with Georgia Power," Davis told the development authority. "So, it was going to be 3 to 4 years before Georgia Power expected that they would be able to do power if there was going to be a data center there." That was longer than the deal's 19-month due diligence period.

The authority had signed a term sheet in August 2025, worth $5.7 million for the land, with a $150,000 payment from Atlas and the deed restricted to data centers. Because the site was already zoned heavy industrial, the plan needed no extra approval from the planning department. Residents, especially in the nearby Summerville Park neighborhood, raised concerns about transparency, utility demand, noise and the environment, and an online petition against the project gathered more than 2,200 verified signatures.

The site's future is open again. The authority has more than $7 million in federal grants to remove asbestos and demolish the old hospital buildings, though a bid challenge has held up the work. The land stays zoned heavy industrial and must be used for job creation; Rome Mayor Jim Bojo said officials can now reconsider its best use, Coosa Valley News reported.

Atlas is still pursuing other Floyd County data centers, including Project Gracie, a seven-building campus along Vann Road NW between Rome and Coosa. On August 25, 2026 the Floyd County Commission adopted rules for unincorporated Floyd County limiting data centers to heavy industrial zoning, a 600-foot home setback, and noise limits of 65 decibels by day and 55 at night. That ordinance does not cover Battey, since it lies inside Rome; the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority, which is selling the land, decides what happens there next.