Water, Power, Land Why Indiana is the Next Logical Move for Traditional & Micro Data Centers

Our Take

Allies Commercial Realty's Adam Stephenson is doing exactly what his job title suggests: selling Indiana as the next data center gold rush. When a broker tells you a state's power grid is "manufacturing-grade" and its water supply is conveniently near the Great Lakes, that's not a public interest assessment — it's an investment pitch aimed at hyperscalers who've already tapped out Northern Virginia and Phoenix. Worth watching to understand how the industry talks to itself, but read it as marketing, not analysis.

Here's what that framing skips: every acre of "affordable industrial land" and every gallon of "stable water supply" is a resource some Indiana community will live without or pay more for. Great Lakes water access has been a political third rail for decades precisely because it's not infinite, and a grid built for factories doesn't automatically have headroom for a 24/7 hyperscale campus without ratepayers footing new transmission and generation costs. None of that shows up in a site-selection reel, but it shows up in local utility filings and county commission minutes.

If Indiana is really the next logical move, the logical next question is who signed off on the tax abatements, the water allocations, and the interconnection queue — and whether residents got a vote before the concrete trucks arrived. Check our facility map to see what's already landed nearby, and if a project is headed for your county, our take-action page has tools for showing up before the deal is done.