STACK Infrastructure · Babenhausen data center, Babenhausen, Hesse

STACK Infrastructure dropped its plan for a data center campus of up to three billion euros on the former Continental site in Babenhausen, in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district of Hesse, Germany, in early July 2026. The landowner, the auto supplier Aumovio, said the plans had to end with great regret because of a lengthy and uncertain process that prevented reliable delivery, Hessenschau reported. STACK had planned three buildings on the roughly 270,000-square-meter former Continental plant, plus space for smaller businesses, promising 150 to 200 direct jobs.

The project stalled in the town parliament: in March the CDU and Free Voters majority declined to pass the resolution needed to start the zoning process, asking first for a letter of intent and guarantee payments from STACK. Their conditions covered alternative water cooling, the power supply and renewable energy, use of waste heat, noise and contributions to local infrastructure; they wanted cooling with drinking water ruled out by contract and the planned business area handed to the town.

Mayor Dominik Stadler, an independent, blamed the CDU's demand for a 250 million euro guarantee, which he called unjustified and unlawful, saying politicians' behavior had given the impression a data center was not wanted in Babenhausen. Free Voters leader Wolfgang Heil insisted they were not saying no. Contracts with Aumovio had been due to be signed in April 2026, and in May a STACK representative, Rebecca Schulz, warned that competitors would not wait.

Aumovio is now looking for a new investor and is preparing applications to the town so zoning resolutions can be passed for the site, leaving open whether and with whom the former Continental land will be developed. Those resolutions would go before the Babenhausen town parliament (Stadtverordnetenversammlung). Stadler won re-election in September 2026 with 66.12 percent of the vote against the CDU's Frank Zick, and begins a second term in January 2027.