Project Blue Hole data center, Blakely, Georgia

Project Blue Hole is QTS Data Centers' planned campus of up to 12 million square feet on undeveloped land off Martha Berry Highway near the Early County Airport in Blakely, Early County, Georgia. In August 2026 the Blakely City Council approved an agreement under which QTS will pay the Early County Development Authority $7.5 million for the first phase and then $7 million a year, to be divided among the city, the county and the school system.

QTS, which is owned by Blackstone, filed a Development of Regional Impact application with the state for the campus, with full build-out by the end of 2035. The site came through John Engler of McKnight Engler in Augusta, who evaluated the McKnight-Blakely property and approached the city in 2024. Local officials said the campus would use closed-loop cooling with about 5,000 gallons a day for domestic use, and that QTS was still working with power providers on supply. QTS says it will fund the energy infrastructure and electricity the campus needs so that costs are not passed to residents, and it has pledged a $28.75 million Community Betterment Fund for park improvements and the old Washington High School building, among other projects.

The project has divided Blakely. At a packed meeting at the Early County Theatre in July, Leighanne Willis, who lives across from the site and learned of it after noticing activity in a nearby field, said: "I'm scared to death." "Bringing it within the city limits and bringing it too close to homes out in the county, I do not go for that at all," Willis said. Lauren Dorminey of neighboring Mitchell County raised concerns about water drawn from area aquifers, possible contaminants and soil and air pollution. Commissioners pointed to the loss of Early County's Georgia-Pacific paper mill and more than 500 jobs, which they said cut about 10% of the county budget.

On July 13, 2026 the Early County commissioners unanimously adopted a data center ordinance that requires water-efficient cooling, sets noise limits and sets a 1,000-foot buffer between any data center and homes, schools and churches. Chairman Hank Jester said that without clear rules development could become "like the Wild Wild West," and that the ordinance can be updated.

The August agreement is only a first step. "We've got to meet with the company and decide on certain things like water, sewer, transportation, other development issues like that," city attorney Tommy Coleman said, adding that the three governments must agree on how to split the money. Those decisions rest with the Blakely City Council, the Early County Board of Commissioners, the Early County Board of Education and the Development Authority of Early County. QTS is also building a campus on Gordon Highway in Augusta and developing one near Fayetteville.