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The developer who proposed a 100,000-square-foot data center in Southeast Raleigh withdrew its application amid skepticism from council members and widespread community backlash, the city confirmed to The News & Observer Saturday.
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Two council members, Jonathan Lambert-Melton and Megan Patton, posted on social media Saturday that the developer had withdrawn the proposal, which city council was set to review Tuesday. The plan was to build the data center at 3101 Jones Sausage Road, a property owned by “B3-SFRE JSR LLC” and Charlotte developer Beacon Partners.
The proposed data center was considered medium-sized — it would have required 12 megawatts to operate compared to 100 megawatts for a hyperscale data center, The N&O previously reported.
But council members expressed concerns about the project. Council member Corey Branch, who represents Southeast Raleigh, said the proposed data center would be similar in size to something like eight others in the city, The N&O reported.
Council member Jane Harrison wrote on Facebook Friday she was concerned the data center could raise electricity costs, take water from a city that just went through a drought, and disturb a neighborhood across the street with vibrations, sound and heat. Harrison also questioned how transparent the project developers were.
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The proposal also received swift community backlash. Though there were only 30 slots for the public to speak on the proposal, 134 residents had signed up to speak, city spokesperson Julia Milstead told The N&O.
Lambert-Melton thanked residents for all their emails and messages about the proposal in his Saturday post. As did council member Christina Jones, who posted a video from the beach bobbing her head to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” while thanking those who spoke up.
A July Elon University poll found a majority of North Carolinians oppose data centers, The N&O reported.
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This story was originally published August 15, 2026 at 5:26 PM.