Province Group Data Center, Merrillville, Indiana

Province Group, a developer based in Newport Beach, California, proposed the Merrillville Technology Park in November 2024, a data center campus of four 250,000 square foot buildings near Colorado Street and Harms Road in Merrillville, in Lake County, Indiana, close to the Hobart line. By May 2026 the project presented for that same corner was Project WayPoint, put forward by PowerHouse, a subsidiary of the fund manager and developer AREP, still evaluating feasibility. The Merrillville Town Council put a one-year moratorium on approving any data center project on May 26, 2026, and extended it on July 14, 2026 to noon on January 1, 2028.

Province put its original plan's investment at up to $500 million over five to seven years and said it was aiming to offer up to 400 megawatts of power, depending on a transmission study it had commissioned from NIPSCO. Province vice president Tim Ramm said: "It would be low intensity compared to other uses. It doesn't impact schools, parks, police fire, or emergency services." The Times of Northwest Indiana reported the campus would pay workers up to a projected $175,000 a year.

At the May 2026 informational meeting attended by about 40 people, PowerHouse's team showed 10 buildings of about 330,000 square feet each, set 500 feet off Harms Road and 1,700 feet off Colorado Street, near the Polycon plant, the new fire station and a NIPSCO substation with three power lines dedicated to it. The developer's attorney, Richard Anderson, said NIPSCO had reported it could handle the load but was not guaranteeing it. Council president Rick Bella said that because the campus would be built on spec, it would not happen until the developer could name its customer.

Councilman Shawn Pettit tied the project to the town budget and said he had asked the county election board about a November referendum: "We need to get on board with this, because if we don't, this council will have to implement an option income tax." Resident Jennifer Gross, who lives in the proposed area, answered: "I've lived here for 25 years, and every time some developer brings up a pie-in-the-sky project, we get burned."

A week later, on May 26, 2026, the Town Council voted unanimously for the one-year moratorium, running from June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 at first. Pettit, described as the council's biggest data center supporter, said a conversation with an investor in Polycon had changed his mind: "If (residents) don't want it, they don't want it. It's that simple." Residents Jennifer Gross and Pablo Payan thanked the council for the pause; Bryon Mesarch said he was disappointed.

On July 14, 2026 the council voted unanimously to extend the moratorium by six months, to noon on January 1, 2028, when a new council takes office. Pettit told the meeting: "A couple months back, we had a lot of controversy about data centers, and when I made the motion (to put a moratorium on them), I made it for one year. I would like to extend that."