A City-County Council committee is scheduled to take up a tax abatement package Monday for the DC Blox data center planned for the east side.

The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee will consider Proposals 345 and 346 at 5:30 p.m. in the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building. The proposals would approve the personal and real property statements of benefits of DCB Indianapolis, LLC, which does business as DC Blox. Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, R-District 20, is the sponsor, and the Department of Metropolitan Development initiated the measure.

Indy Economic Development Inc. crafted the package, which it values at $113 million. The group estimates savings of $8.9 million on buildings, $11.6 million on equipment and $92.5 million for future tenants over a 10-year abatement period. It estimates DC Blox would pay nearly $28 million in taxes during that time, Mirror Indy reported. After the abatement ends, the project would pay an estimated $11.1 million in taxes each year, the IBJ reported.

The package requires Council action because the site lies in the Irvington Plaza-Brookville Road tax-increment financing district. Under state law, a statement of benefits for property in such an allocation area cannot be approved unless the Council adopts a resolution approving it.

What the Filing Says

DC Blox’s real property statement of benefits, posted on the Council’s website, lists a site at 305 Fintail Drive, in the Thunderbird Commerce Center, the former Ford plant site. The filing says the company “is considering” a “potential two-phased project.” Phase 1 would be an approximately 70,000-square-foot, 10-megawatt data center. Phase 2 “includes the potential development” of an approximately 250,000-square-foot, 40-megawatt data center.

The form estimates real estate improvements at $384,438,553, with 21 additional jobs and $106,974 listed under salaries. It gives an estimated start date of Dec. 1, 2026, and an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2036. The company’s chief financial officer, Kevin O’Donnell, signed the form Oct. 22.

Community Payments

Indy Economic Development said the community inclusion payment would be about $28.5 million, including about $5.7 million for Washington Square Mall redevelopment and $2.5 million for workforce development. Another $1.5 million would come through DC Blox’s “Good Neighbor Standards.” The city requires companies receiving abatements to give back at least 5% of their savings. The “other benefits” section of the statement of benefits is blank, and Proposal 345 does not mention a community payment.

Councilors Split

Hart wrote in his newsletter Sunday that the site is already zoned for a data center and that the project will be built whether or not the abatement passes. He wrote that with the abatement, DC Blox builds both buildings and the city and surrounding community receive about $57 million over 10 years. Without it, he wrote, the company still builds the first building, and the taxes on that building would come to less.

Councilor Andy Nielsen, D-District 14, opposes the abatement. If DC Blox builds the project, Nielsen told WTHR, “they should be paying full sticker.”

Irvington Community Schools and an east side community group are suing to stop the data center, the IBJ reported.

The project was approved before the city’s moratorium on new data centers, which runs through Dec. 31, 2027. City planning staff told the Metropolitan Development Commission in August that previously approved projects are effectively grandfathered.

What’s Next

The full Council is scheduled to vote Dec. 7. The Proposal 345 resolution says the MDC has preliminarily approved the statements of benefits. Mirror Indy reported the package is expected at the MDC Nov. 18, with a hearing and vote later. Mayor Joe Hogsett can approve or veto the Council’s resolution.