Google confirmed to be developer behind proposed Morgan County data center

MORGAN COUNTY, Ind. — The company behind a proposed data center in Morgan County was identified on Tuesday.

The Morgan County Economic Development Corporation has confirmed that Google is the company aiming to develop 390 acres of land near Monrovia. Previous reporting indicates Google’s initial plans for the land included five buildings.

The 390 acres Google is interested in were originally 18 separate parcels of land owned by 10 different parties.

“We are always planning for future capacity needs, which includes evaluating options to expand our data center presence in markets across the U.S.,” Google Data Center Public Affairs Manager Broderick Green wrote in a prepared statement. “In Indiana, we can confirm we are exploring a potential development in Morgan County, Indiana. We appreciate the collaboration with both Morgan County and state leadership as we evaluate the opportunity together.”

The Morgan County Plan Commission conducted a hearing related to the proposed data center on Sept. 30. At the time of the meeting, Google had not yet been unveiled as the company behind the data center.

At the end of the meeting, the seven-member plan commission voted, 5-2, to recommend rezoning of the 390 acres for data center development.

“We are enthusiastic about the partnership we are building with Google,” Morgan County Economic Development Corporation member Mike Dellinger wrote in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “A project of this magnitude presents the opportunity to bring jobs and needed investment for our schools and critical county services without raising taxes on our residents.  We are committed to working hand-in-hand with Google to support a clean, modern industry that will help drive our future economy.

The project in Morgan County is not Google’s first public swing at a data center project in central Indiana. The company previously attempted to build a $1 billion data center on 460 cares of farmland in Franklin Township, which is located on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

Google officially withdrew its data center proposal for Franklin Township on Oct. 6. Google announced its intent to withdraw the proposal during a Sept. 22 meeting of the Indianapolis City-County Council. A public hearing on the proposed Franklin Township data center was supposed to be held during that meeting.

In addition to Morgan County and Franklin Township, data centers have also been proposed in Hendricks County and Henry County. Meta also has plans to build a 1,500-acre data center in Lebanon’s LEAP Research and Innovation District, which is a sprawling 9,000-acre project that is designed to bring tech companies like Meta and Google to Indiana.

In the emails they sent to FOX59/CBS4 on Tuesday, members of the Morgan County Economic Development Corporation indicated that they plan to share additional information about their partnership with Google in the coming months.