REAL ESTATE

Digital Realty outlines multi‑billion‑dollar Kokomo data‑center plan, says it will fund infrastructure and boost property tax base

Digital Realty has described a proposed multi‑billion‑dollar data‑center campus planned for Kokomo that the company says would create construction and permanent jobs, pay for required infrastructure upgrades and generate "tens of millions" in annual property tax revenue. The discussion followed an Oct. 10, 2026 open house and a city zoning change allowing data centers on industrial sites (WISH‑TV; Digital Realty).

News BriefBy BusinessIndy News DeskCommentsPublished October 14, 2026 at 7:17 PM EDTLiving story · 2 sources

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Digital Realty outlines multi‑billion‑dollar Kokomo data‑center plan, says it will fund infrastructure and boost property tax base — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

Digital Realty presented plans for a proposed multi‑billion‑dollar data‑center project in Kokomo and said the company would pay for needed infrastructure upgrades and is not seeking tax abatements (Digital Realty project page; WISH‑TV). The firm says the campus would use water‑conserving cooling and incorporate noise, lighting and buffer design commitments (Digital Realty).

City officials recently changed zoning to allow data centers on industrial sites, and any economic‑development agreement would require Common Council approval; the developer told WISH‑TV it expects an agreement to be drafted soon but has not yet submitted a site plan (WISH‑TV). An open house for residents was held Oct. 10, 2026 (WISH‑TV).

WHY IT MATTERS

A data center is a large facility that houses computer servers and the cooling, power and networking equipment they need. For Kokomo residents and officials, the practical questions are whether the project will change local infrastructure needs, who pays for upgrades, and how much new tax revenue and jobs it might produce.

Digital Realty’s public materials say the campus would use water‑conserving cooling, make design commitments on buffers and lighting, and that the company would pay for infrastructure upgrades rather than seek tax abatements (Digital Realty project page; WISH‑TV). The developer also projects construction and permanent jobs and "tens of millions" in annual property tax revenue once the project is built (WISH‑TV; Digital Realty). Those are company projections, not municipal approvals.

Next steps to watch: the developer has not yet filed a formal site plan and told WISH‑TV it expects an economic‑development agreement to be drafted soon; any such agreement would need Common Council approval before the project could advance (WISH‑TV).

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Linked source published October 14, 2026 at 6:10 PM EDT. A sourced news brief; no independent staff reporting is implied. Prepared with AI assistance from the linked research; material claims remain attributed in the article.

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