St. Joseph County has given the final go-ahead for Amazon's $11bn data center project in Indiana.
Located on land around New Carlisle in St. Joseph County, plans for the campus first emerged in April 2024.
County officials have agreed to give Amazon a 50 percent Property Tax Abatement over 10 years, and an enterprise technology exemption. The company will be exempt from paying around 85 percent in taxes over the next 35 years on data center shells, first reported by WNDU.
The vote to approve the data center campus went through 7-2 on August 13. Opposing votes came from Amy Drake and Mark Root. Drake stated that she was troubled by giving Amazon a huge tax break when homeowners would be unlikely to see a similar cut on their property tax bill.
County commissioner Carl Baxmeyer argued that Amazon is going to be "our biggest taxpayer, reason to assume, and in addition, their tax payment each year is going to be in excess of $20 million, and that is roughly a quarter of what our annual, little less, a quarter of our annual budget.”
The data center is expected to bring a significant amount of investment to the community. Bill Schalliol, economic development director of St. Joseph County noted: "We’re looking at over $2 billion of investment to the community. It’s listed as an $11 billion project, so by the time taxes are paid over the next 35 years we’re looking at billions and billions of investments for the community. New jobs, good jobs, great opportunities to move the community forward."
Amazon has also agreed to provide $143 million in a "community enhancement agreement."
It is estimated that the campus will bring around 400 full-time jobs to the area, and 600 additional jobs throughout the construction period.
Construction at the site is already underway, with four buildings expected to be completed by the end of this year. Images suggested that there could be as many as 22 buildings on the campus.
Construction will continue over the next 10 to 15 years.
The exact location of the campus has not been shared, but a company acquired more than 600 acres of agricultural land around New Carlisle in St. Joseph County last year using the shell company Razor5. At the time, AWS was cited as the likely company by local press.
