Atlas data center, Villa Rica, Georgia

Atlas Development's Avemore project is a 428-acre technology and data center park on the Carroll County side of Villa Rica, Georgia, along Highway 61, Hickory Level Road and South Van Wert Road. Villa Rica annexed and rezoned the land on May 13, 2025, despite residents speaking against it, while neighbors in Carroll County were already fighting it in court.

More than 30 Carroll County residents had petitioned Carroll County Superior Court in February 2025 against the city, Embry Development Company and another landowner over more than 200 acres between Hickory Level and South Van Wert roads, arguing the annexation and rezoning would directly harm their land. At the May hearing, resident attorney Jefferson Allen said the city had not given timely notice; Atlas attorney Brandon Bowen replied: "In Georgia, the power to zone is placed directly in the city council. It's not in the court system."

Paul Cutler, a 27-year Villa Rica resident, questioned the water supply: "Villa Rica gets 80% of their water from Douglas County." Dan Christner, who gathered 500 signatures door to door, said the developer's own filings put water use at 1.1 million gallons a day. An online petition against the $4 billion to $7 billion project has more than 1,737 verified signatures.

Atlas has since filed a Development of Regional Impact application for Avemore, with a first construction phase set for 2028. Carroll County commissioners adopted a 100-day moratorium on data center permits by a 7-0 vote on March 3, 2026, and extended it for another 100 days on June 3, 2026, running through September 11, 2026. The moratorium covers only unincorporated county land, so it does not affect Villa Rica, where Avemore sits.