The plans, reviewed by this news outlet, call for a data center called "Project Mila," housed in buildings covering 893,034-square-feet on 141 aces. That's the size of more than five Walmart Supercenters.
California-based real estate company, Prologis, purchased the land from city of Trenton in October 2025.
"The city's decision to put this in, for me, is a life-changing decision," Markham said. "It may mean that I have to move ... my family. Where are we going to go?"
A Dayton Daily News/Journal-News investigation found proposals for massive data centers across southwest Ohio are coupled with apprehension from local communities. The facilities are power-hungry, water-thirsty and subsidized with tax breaks.
Ohio has the sixth largest number of data centers in the country, at 194, according to the Data Center Map. Virginia has the most with 568, followed by Texas, California, Illinois, and Georgia.
Most of the existing local data centers are relatively small. Data Center Map lists three in Dayton owned by Lumen — formerly CenturyLink — including some inside office towers.
In Hamilton, there is a 4.8-megawatt, 83,000-square-foot data center on Knightsbridge Drive, CyrusOne CIN4. Another data center in West Chester Twp., Flexential Cincinnati Data Center, has a 3.8-megawatt, 43,551-square-foot footprint.
But the growth of the tech and artificial intelligence industries is creating the need for sprawling centers the size of business parks with power and water needs rivaling entire towns. Projects are proposed in Springfield, Hamilton, Wilmington, Trenton, Piqua and Sydney.
These are major investments for these communities, which comes as good news to some.
"They're talking about $1 billion of investment in the construction, and it may be more," said Bobby Angst, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 648 — which covers Butler County and much of Warren County.
"That equates to maybe $200 million in wages and benefits for whoever gets to work on these projects," he said. "That's a lot for our area."
But some question their benefit for area residents.
240 megawatts
"We are crippled with anxiety about the potential consequences that this could have on our lives," said a Hamilton resident who spoke at the Jan. 28 city council meeting about a proposed data center that's on hold because of concerns about electric availability.
The developer of that proposed project, Logistix, requested up to 240 megawatts of power for the project, according to officials with the city of Hamilton, which is one of the few Ohio cities to operate its own electric utility.
This is enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes. By comparison, there are roughly 27,000 housing units in the entire city of Hamilton, as of the 2020 Census.
"To assess feasibility, we initiated two studies simultaneously," said Edwin Porter, Hamilton's executive director of infrastructure. "We have received the results of the first study. While the findings are lengthy and complex and will take time to fully review, the preliminary conclusion is that it would take approximately 30 months to deliver 45 MW of power to the site."
Porter said the developer has asked the city to pause the second study as they consider the findings of the first study.
Logistix responded with a statement to media:
"We are evaluating the information. No decision has been made with respect to the project. Developments of this nature are complex with a number of avenues to evaluate, and we are weighing all of these as we consider our next steps."
In Trenton, Duke Energy will be the energy supplier.
Duke Energy Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Ohio/Kentucky John Juech said if a business comes into Duke Energy's service area and needs power, the company has to "serve that power."
"That's why we've strengthened our contracts with customers that have high energy demand to ensure they cover the cost of development and operations for the energy they need," he said. "Existing customers here in Ohio and Kentucky shouldn't — and won't — be bearing those costs."
Uncertainty
But while local utility officials say they'll do everything in their power to make sure consumers don't pay for increased demand, there is data that shows data centers have driven up electric prices across Ohio.
Likewise, while some are optimistic at the staggering billion-dollar investments that AI data centers represent, data center host communities are likely to see little to no growth in jobs, income, or population, according to the Ohio River Valley Institute.
"These dazzling investment figures, the dazzling size of these facilities and the dazzling opportunity to participate in the digital AI economy does not mean that any of it translates into economic benefit for host communities. In fact, it means the opposite," ORVI Senior Researcher Sean O'Leary said.
This conflicting information and uncertainty is a driving factor in public concerns.
Barry Blankenship, a Trenton resident, has helped lead efforts in the city to oppose the data center. He and his wife, Lorie, started the group Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance (W.A.T.E.R.), which had 248 members on Facebook as of Feb. 12.
Blankenship said they are fighting the data center due to "transparency issues" and lack of information from Prologis and the Trenton city government.
"We are asking the city to put this data center on pause because I asked at the last meeting to do a moratorium ... that way we can get information we need, the city can get information they need and everybody can come together and be on the same page, whether it's built or whether it's not," he said.
If it's not built, Blankenship thinks that will be better for the community, but if it is built, he said, "At least we will have some input and say as citizens to how to make that data center as safe as possible for everybody in this community."
'Next steps'
As of Jan. 29, preliminary plans are under review by city staff, which is ongoing and "no formal determinations have been made" in regard to the plans, according to Trenton city spokesman Stas Beresford.
Plans have not been reviewed by the city's planning commission; the project is tentatively scheduled for consideration at the March 9 planning commission meeting.
A public meeting with a Prologis representative is also tentatively planned for March 2 at Edgewood High School, according to Beresford.
"As with many projects at this stage, discussions are preliminary and intended to facilitate information sharing and next steps," Beresford said.
The data center operator could possibly contribute to the community through volunteerism, sponsorship for events opportunities, contributions to local projects or programs and working with local schools to support STEM programming and apprenticeship programs for various trades, according to city officials.
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