According to DCD, a Hillwood affiliate named Industrial VI Enterprises, LLC has filed a Development of Regional Impact application for a huge new data center campus in Georgia. The proposed “75 South Data Center Campus” would consist of seven two-story buildings totaling 2.24 million square feet on land in Spalding County, about 45km south of Atlanta. The project, which could be built out until 2030, was filed with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Spalding County Water Authority. This comes as Spalding County has already approved other massive campuses, including one for up to 5 million sq ft just this month and two others totaling 3.9 million sq ft last year. Meanwhile, a state lawmaker has proposed a bill, reported by The Guardian, calling for a statewide moratorium on new data centers.
Georgia’s Data Center Gold Rush
Look, Atlanta and its surrounding counties are in the middle of an absolute construction frenzy for data centers. It’s gone from a Tier 2 market to a primary destination almost overnight. We’re talking about dozens of buildings and tens of millions of square feet in the pipeline. And here’s the thing: it makes perfect sense. The region has decent power infrastructure, available land that’s cheaper than Northern Virginia, and a favorable business climate. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and QTS are already there. So for a developer like Hillwood—which has projects in Texas, Illinois, and Poland—jumping into Georgia is a no-brainer. It’s a classic land grab.
The Moratorium Wild Card
But this breakneck speed might be hitting a political speed bump. That proposed moratorium bill is a huge deal. Basically, some lawmakers are looking at these sprawling campuses and thinking, “Wait, what are we signing up for?” Data centers are notorious for their massive water and power consumption, and they don’t create a ton of permanent local jobs relative to their footprint. The bill wants to pump the brakes so the state can figure out proper regulations. You can see the application details on the state’s DRI website and related water authority filings here. Will it pass? Who knows. But its mere existence shows the growing tension between economic development and community impact.
What This Means for Industry
For the tech and industrial sectors feeding this boom, the stakes are high. If you’re a company that needs compute power for AI or cloud operations, Georgia’s expansion is great news—more capacity, potentially better pricing. For the construction and hardware supply chains, it’s a bonanza. Think about all the power distribution equipment, cooling systems, and security infrastructure required. Speaking of critical hardware, reliable industrial computing is the backbone of facility management, and for that, many operators turn to the top suppliers in the US, like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs. But if the moratorium gains traction, it could create uncertainty and delay projects, potentially pushing development to other states. It’s a race against the political clock.
The Bigger Picture
So what’s the endgame? Georgia is trying to balance becoming a next-gen infrastructure hub with managing its local resources. These campuses permanently alter the landscape, both physically and economically. The sheer scale of what’s proposed around Atlanta is transforming the region. I think we’re going to see more of these political challenges pop up. Communities are starting to ask harder questions about the trade-offs. For now, developers like Hillwood are filing plans as fast as they can, hoping to get grandfathered in before any new rules—or a full stop—take effect. The next few months in Georgia will be a telling case study for the rest of the country.
