Slavic Village Data Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Lakeland Equity Group proposed a $1.6 billion, 150 megawatt data center on a 35-acre site at 3560 East 55th Street in Cleveland's Slavic Village, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Cleveland's Mayor Justin Bibb administration rejected the permit application in May 2026 for failing zoning review, blocking the project, and a citywide moratorium on new data centers runs through October. City Council holds its final public hearing on permanent data center rules October 7 at the Gunning Recreation Center, after earlier hearings on September 24 and September 29.

Lakeland filed on May 5 for three two-story buildings totaling 300,000 square feet on the former Morabito Enterprises trucking property between Interstate 77 and East 55th Street, and held an option to buy the site if the city approved. The company said $1 billion would go to the data center itself, that it would pay for grid upgrades, and that closed loop cooling would cut water use 80 to 90 percent compared with older systems.

It forecast 1,500 to 2,000 construction jobs over 30 to 42 months and 65 to 115 permanent jobs. Dorothy Blackwell and Witold Sztalkopr, who have lived in Slavic Village since 1985, said they want to know how a project this size would affect water, power and traffic. "Is this beneficial for the area or causing more trouble? How is it going to impact utilities?" Blackwell asked.

Councilman Charles Slife of Ward 15, who introduced the moratorium in late April, said the developer appeared to be racing to get approved before the rules changed. "I remain skeptical," he said. "If I were a resident of that immediate area, I would have a lot of questions." The city's statement said "Mayor Bibb has serious concerns about hyperscale, standalone data centers being placed in residential neighborhoods."

A city source told NEOtrans the application was rejected because no site plans were submitted. Lakeland called the rejection "abrupt" and said it was "considering our options for immediate next steps." The land is zoned semi-industry, which allows buildings up to 115 feet, more than twice the floor area Lakeland proposed, so a similar plan might be legal there without variances.

In late June, council's utilities committee cut Slife's proposed one-year moratorium to three months, covering new data centers and expansions but not companies' own in-house data centers. Ward 12 Councilmember Tanmay Shah tried to extend it to six months and questioned whether the city's electrical grid could handle data centers.

Construction trades workers packed the room in support; IBEW Local 38's Mike Bremmer said, "We could be the tech capital of the Midwest." Council President Blaine Griffin said, "We do want to make sure that we get this right, but we also don't want to say that Cleveland is closed for business."

Council passed the moratorium, which runs through October unless extended. Utilities Committee chairman Brian Kazy scheduled three public hearings on how to regulate data centers: September 24 at the Collinwood Recreation Center, September 29 at City Hall, and October 7 at the Gunning Recreation Center, plus an online survey.

The September 24 hearing has been held; no result has been published. City Council's decision on the rules, and whether it extends the pause, will determine whether a plan like Lakeland's can be filed again in a residential neighborhood.