Project Indo data center, Cartersville, Georgia

The Cartersville City Council unanimously approved rezoning for Project Indo, DataBank's planned 200 megawatt data center campus on about 69 acres at 218 Industrial Park Road in Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia, on September 3, 2026. The council also approved variances and attached three conditions: the project is limited to the site plan, the land may be used only as a data center, and no certificate of occupancy will be issued until a power source is lined up. Dallas-based DataBank filed a Development of Regional Impact application for 1.1 million square feet valued at $2.4 billion at full build-out, and has applied for a 288 megawatt grid connection.

The open question is power. The city's electric provider, MEAG, is still studying whether 288 megawatts is available. "None of our open capacity is going to serve this facility," Mayor Matt Santini said at the August 20 hearing, and City Manager Dan Porta added: "Our ratepayers are not going to subsidize their power needs." At the September 3 hearing, DataBank's attorney Brandon Bowen said each building's closed-loop cooling holds about 300,000 gallons, 600,000 for the site.

Resident Jason Barton, who lives less than two miles away, was the only speaker against the project at the final hearing, raising Pettit Creek, a tributary of the Etowah River along the property's edge, nearby homes in the unincorporated county, and infrasound. DataBank executive Justin Puccio told the council the company does not flip sites and serves banks, health records and emergency communications rather than AI: "We are not a flipper."

With zoning approved, the project now turns on power. MEAG is still studying routing and usage, and under the council's condition, no building can open until a power source is secured.