Los Angeles-based data center developer Metrobloks is the company behind a proposed project in Indianapolis’ Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood.
On its website, Metrobloks describes the data center planned for 2505 N. Sherman Drive as “state-of-the-art” and “high-density” with a hybrid air-and-water-based cooling system. The company also touts the project’s proximity to major metropolitan areas like Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
“Indianapolis is emerging as a cost-effective Midwest data center hub, driven by industry-leading tax incentives and competitive power pricing,” the company said.
Indianapolis-based attorney Tyler Ochs initially did not name his client in an email to community leaders at One Voice Martindale-Brightwood. The Bose McKinney & Evans lawyer later confirmed to IBJ in an email that the company he is representing is Metrobloks.
The company seeks to build a small-scale data center on a 13-acre parcel east of Brightwood Plaza. The plot was home to the now-demolished Sherman Drive-In from 1965 to 1983.
Although Ochs initially told community leaders that his client had bought the property, records show that it was last sold in early 2022, when Sherman Investments LLC bought the property from Martin University for $675,000.
Karan Cheema of Sherman Investments LLC confirmed to IBJ on Tuesday that his company still owns the property. He declined to say if he is currently in negotiations to sell it to the data center builder.
Ochs did not immediately respond to clarifying questions sent by IBJ.
Ochs said in his email to One Voice Martindale-Brightwood that his client wanted community input before it filed to rezone the property for commercial use. It is currently zoned industrial.
One Voice Martindale-Brightwood is hosting a public meeting regarding the project at 6 p.m. on Sept. 23 in the Frederick Douglass Park Family Center, 1616 E. 25th St.
Metrobloks raised $5.2 million in a June 2024 seed funding round, according to industry publication Data Center Dynamics. In April, the company purchased a four-acre parcel in Miami for a planned $150 million data center project. It also lists projects in Phoenix, Detroit, Kansas City and Philadelphia.