Shelbyville just cleared a key political hurdle for a large data center footprint by approving annexation of 429 acres for industrial use tied to a Prologis proposal.
This is classic early-stage AI infra positioning: secure land near interstate access first, sort out power, water, and actual operator (hyperscaler or colo) later.
Local pushback centers on water quality, noise, and property values, which often translates into stricter conditions on cooling, backup generation, and traffic once detailed plans surface.
No specifics yet on power capacity, substation build-out, or which AI/cloud tenant might anchor the site, so this is more about land banking than confirmed GPU capacity.
For AI workloads, the real signal will be future filings on megawatt draw, transmission upgrades, and tax incentive structures that could attract GPU-heavy deployments.
The planning commission review this week is the next inflection point where environmental and infrastructure commitments tend to become more concrete.
Worth tracking as another Midwestern data center node that could evolve into AI-capable capacity depending on how utilities and a future operator step in.
Source: Shelbyville council approves annexation plan for data center project | wthr.com
