Natelli Investments withdraws Wake County data-center plans after zoning changes and local opposition

Natelli Investments withdrew its annexation and rezoning applications for a proposed data center in Wake County, North Carolina, earlier in 2026. The 190-acre campus would have included six buildings each about 70 feet tall and a 250-megawatt facility.

The developer said zoning ordinance changes prompted the withdrawal, which also followed community protests, petitions, and public-meeting participation over the project’s water use, air-quality impacts, and increased utility costs.

Resident Lorraine McAvoy told local media last year that infrastructure costs would fall on utility customers rather than the developer. “When they make infrastructure improvements, who does that cost go to? It doesn’t go to the developer,” she said.

A report published this month by Data Center Watch found that the scale of data-center opposition in the first three months of 2026 matched the total for all of 2025. At least 75 data-center projects worth more than $130 billion were delayed or cancelled in that period. Active opposition groups rose from 396 at the end of 2025 to 833 by the end of March 2026 and were active across 49 states.

About a dozen states introduced data-center construction moratoriums. New York passed legislation imposing a one-year pause on large data-center permits. Bills in Maine and Oklahoma failed. Miquel Vila, lead researcher at Data Center Watch, said opposition has moved beyond affected neighbors.

“Opposition to data centers—it’s now part of a mainstream conversation,” he told Fortune. ” A Heatmap Pro poll conducted this month found that seven in 10 Americans oppose data centers built near homes. Studies project wholesale electricity costs will rise between 6 percent and 29 percent by the end of the decade because of data-center expansion.