Mayor outlines potential $7 billion data center, says power availability is a key hurdle

Hammond’s mayor reported on May 27 that city officials have been meeting with investors about a proposed data center that, if it proceeds as discussed, could be worth about $7,000,000,000 and would sit near the city’s existing data center on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

“If everything goes the way we hope it goes, we could have a data center worth $7,000,000,000 sitting on the Lake Michigan shoreline right next to our current data center, which would present amazing opportunities for the students behind us because we could literally fund a program like College Bound for eternity,” the mayor said. He said a development agreement has been drafted that would be beneficial to the city over the next 20 years and that city staff are preparing documentation to brief the council.

The mayor cautioned that the proposal faces significant hurdles, primarily power supply. “1 of them is power. We're talking about something that would be the largest customer in in Nisource. The largest customer by far would be this data center that we're talking about,” he said. He noted the city has met with potential investors but did not announce any binding commitments or final approvals at the May 27 meeting.

Separately, the mayor said city economic-development staff are working on YMCA expansion plans and other redevelopment efforts; no formal council actions were taken on the data center or YMCA at the May 27 meeting.