A new data center proposal has come to Burns Harbor, Indiana.

Put forward by Texas-based Provident Realty, the developer is seeking to build up to seven data center buildings on 102 acres at the corner of S. Babcock and Haglund Roads on the Worthington Steel property.

The parcel is currently owned by Worthington Steel.

The data centers could reach heights of 120 feet, according to the Chesterton Tribune.

During an August 5 meeting, more than 100 people congregated for the Burns Harbor Planning Commission meeting, in which 20 people spoke against the proposal.

Residents argued that it was unclear how the data center would benefit the community, while another resident claimed it could be a fire risk. Commissioners also raised concerns about the height of the building, suggesting that it could be limited to 60 feet. Provident spokesman Todd Leeth said such a limit would kill the project.

Provident Realty has yet to provide figures about how much investment the campus would see.

The planning commission has agreed to continue the matter until September 9 instead of the originally planned August 14 meeting, including Provident's rezoning request for the parcel from residential to a new zoning classification - S8 Technology District. Should the commission approve this, it will then go to the town council.

Provident Realty also proposed an eight-building data center campus in nearby Chesterton in May 2024, which was estimated to represent around $1.3 billion in investment and to provide significant tax revenues to the area. The Chesterton proposal was rejected. Around six weeks later, the Burns Harbor proposal was made.

The Chesterton proposal would have seen Provident acquire a 200-acre property from PMM Chesterton LLC and develop a campus with each building spanning 150,000 sq ft (13,935 sqm), as well as an on-site substation from local utility NIPSCO.

Provident has other data centers in operation or under development in eight Texas cities - Grand Prairie, Las Colinas, Fort Worth, Dall, Richardson, Plano, Austin, and Dallas, as well as Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to its website.