Mar 06, 2026 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
A developer has withdrawn plans for a 250MW data center project in Apex, North Carolina. Natelli Investments LLC had proposed building four 200,000 sq ft data centers on an 89-acre site next to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant.
The company said the proposed New Hill Digital Campus would have created 5,800 construction jobs during the buildout and generated $20.7 million in tax revenue for local, county, and state governments.
However, strong opposition from residents and local officials led the developer to withdraw the proposal on Thursday, according to several reports and a statement from Apex Mayor Pro Tempore Terry Mahaffey on his Substack.
“And now that Apex has no active data center applications, at the next meeting on March 10th, I’ll be putting forward a motion to set a one-year moratorium on any further applications, permits, or construction of data centers in Apex,” said Mahaffey.
Mahaffey’s post has a poll at the bottom where readers can vote for or against this proposal.
“This will give us the time we need to finish the work that we started, to update the [Unified Development Ordinance], to put firm rules in place to ensure that any future applicants [do] not harm the health, the well-being, or the quality of life of any existing Apex resident.”
Natelli told WRAL News that it would “determine an appropriate course of action, if in the future, the town of Apex ultimately approves a comprehensive zoning text amendment allowing data centers as an approved use within the town's limits.”
