Prologis has been identified as the company seeking to build a data center in the Leesburg area.

By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews

LEESBURG — Prologis, a real estate company operating in several markets in the Midwest, has been identified as the company seeking to build a data center in the Leesburg area.

A petition to rezone 554.54 acres from an Agricultural District to an Industrial 3 district will be heard at the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission’s April 2 meeting. The proposal is for land currently owned by Murphy Place, Timothy Polk and Polk Family Farms, with the property located on the north side of CR 700N, west of CR 300W in Prairie and Jefferson Townships.

Local data center discussions first began at the APC in October 2024, with the commission approving the rezoning of 4.86 acres for a data center near a Kosciusko REMC substation west of Pierceton.

Since then, the APC and county commissioners have approved adopting an amendment to the county’s zoning ordinance to include data centers as an exceptional use in heavy industrial, or “I-3,” districts. The ordinance’s definition of a data center is “a location housing one or more large computer systems and related equipment concerned with building, maintaining or processing data and providing other data processing services.”

The proposal has stirred a lot of conversation within the community, with “Keep Leesburg Rural,” a local committee formed by concerned area residents, recently hosting a meeting to hear public comment on rezoning agricultural land and data center construction.

Mattie Sorrentino, corporate communications director with Prologis, said the company has been building data centers since 1999.

“The Leesburg site was selected because of its unique access to existing energy infrastructure,” said Sorrentino. “With this location, the data center can be constructed and operated without service disruption to residents or impact to their utility bills. Additionally, no significant utility upgrades will be required for service.”

According to Sorrentino, the current site plan includes 10 powered shell data centers designed to support 72 megawatts per building, totaling approximately 1.9 million square feet. As the project is still in its early phases, Sorrentino said a tenant has yet to be identified for the data center.

A closed-loop water cooling system is being planned for the facility, requiring an estimated total of 38,000 to 40,000 gallons a day, which Sorrentino states is lower than data center projects that use open-loop systems.

Sorrentino also noted Prologis has support from KREMC on the project, “as our project investments will allow them to improve the community’s local energy infrastructure.” Prologis has also already engaged in conversations with county officials about necessary road infrastructure improvements to support the development.

“As our community grows, any new or additional electric load presents an opportunity to benefit our membership by spreading costs more effectively,” said Dalton Caley, KREMC’s director of business development. “Before initiating new projects, we follow a thorough process to ensure they will not lead to reliability issues or rate increases. We have measures in place to supply power generation and transmission capacity for new members. Our goal is to continue mitigating risk while maximizing benefits for our membership. Adding this project to our lines will strengthen REMC for decades with a long-term partner such as Prologis.”

Based on current designs, Prologis estimates 300 total full-time jobs will be in place once the project is complete, with an average annual salary of $100,000. For the construction jobs per building, with two buildings built each year, this would result in approximately 325 daily construction jobs annually over the next seven to 10 years.

If approved by county government officials for construction, the data center is estimated to be fully built by 2039, generating about $18.7 million in annual tax revenue for the county, increasing each year and reaching about $35.8 million by 2048.

“This project represents an opportunity to bring new revenues to the community to help fund public services like schools, law enforcement, fire services, infrastructure and more,” said Sorrentino.

At the April 2 APC meeting, there will be a limit of 120 people allowed in the meeting room due to occupancy limits set by the fire marshal. The meeting will be live-streamed on the county’s YouTube channel.

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