After months of discussion, developers have withdrawn applications for the proposed data center near Apex.
Natelli Investments LLC confirmed to the INDY Thursday afternoon that it was withdrawing its plans for the New Hill Digital Campus.
“Natelli Investments announced today that it is withdrawing its annexation and rezoning applications for property adjacent to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant and designated for future industrial development within the Town’s growth plan, while the Town continues its deliberations over zoning ordinance changes necessary to permit data center development within the Town’s limits,” Michael Natelli, the Maryland-based developer’s executive vice president, wrote in a statement. “The company indicated it will 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.”
Apex Mayor Pro Tem Terry Mahaffey shared the news in a newsletter Thursday afternoon.
“The project will not be moving forward. It’s over,” he wrote.
Mahaffey also wrote that he intends to put forward a motion at Tuesday’s town council meeting for a one-year moratorium “on any further applications, permits, or construction of data centers in Apex.” The moratorium will give the town council time to update its Unified Development Ordinance, he said.
Apex and New Hill area residents had been vocal in their opposition to the project; more than 5,000 people have signed an online petition against it.
Plans called for a “digital campus” on a 190-acre farm property currently zoned for residential use off of Old U.S. Highway 1 in New Hill in unincorporated Wake County, Jane Porter reported in September 2025. The company’s release at the time said that the data center would “support the processing and storage requirements of digital applications for residents in Apex and the greater Triangle area.”
Most recently, concerns bloomed from not only environmental, noise, and energy and water consumption to town resources, including strain on fire and public safety services.
Concerns around data centers aren’t unique to Western Wake; nearby Chatham County recently voted to put a temporary hold “on the permitting of data centers, data processing facilities, cryptocurrency mining operations, and any other associated uses.”
Jane Porter contributed to this report.