QTS
Project Marvel hyperscale campus off Rock Mountain Lake Road
rezoning, approved, approved 2025-11-18
Operator: QTS (confirmed July 2026)
Developer: Logistics Land Investment LLC (TPA Group)
Scale: 1,200 MW · 1,600 acres · 4,500,000 sq ft · 14,500,000,000 USD
Two rezonings: about 670 to 700 acres in November 2025 (reports differ) plus 914 acres in April 2026, described by the Southern Environmental Law Center as 1,600 acres in total. Eighteen buildings of roughly 250,000 sq ft each; the April rezoning spread the same 18 buildings over more land. Cost and 1,200 MW are developer figures.
Verification: from news reports
A strong version: A fund that scales with the project, with a community seat on the body that spends it
No development, incentive, or community benefits agreement has been made public. The approvals are zoning ordinances only. A $14.5 billion project has been approved with no published terms.
A strong version: Incentives come back if the facility stops operating, not only if a jobs number is missed
None found; no agreement exists to hold one.
A strong version: A bond, escrow, or letter of credit that pays for teardown and site restoration if the operator walks
A strong version: The operator pays for its own interconnection and carries a minimum bill that survives it leaving
interconnect paid by: unknown
The developer's law firm put full buildout at about 1,200 MW, roughly a 10 percent rise in Alabama Power's statewide demand. Alabama Power says only that it follows a disciplined process for large-load customers to ensure they pay the full cost to serve their needs; no agreement or tariff has been published, and no minimum-bill term is on the record. A councilwoman said Bessemer Utilities customers' power bills would not rise, which places any cost on Alabama Power customers elsewhere. Estimates based on comparable campuses put backup at 300 to 500 diesel generators.
A strong version: A stated cap or closed-loop cooling, plus public reporting
cooling: closed loop
The developer asked the Warrior River Water Authority for 2 million gallons a day; the authority, whose supply capacity is reported at around 6 million gallons a day, wrote that it could not provide that without significant upgrades to the distribution system. QTS later said its closed-loop cooling does not consume water for cooling once operational. A councilwoman said the city sells water but will not supply the data center.
A strong version: A numeric limit measured at the nearest residence or property line
setback: 100 ft
The only known term is a 100-foot buffer between buildings and homes, described by the developer at the November 2025 council meeting. Whether it exceeds the zoning minimum is not established in the sources reviewed. No noise limit has been published.
A strong version: Binding job commitments with a consequence, not projections
permanent: 330 · construction: 1000 · enforceable: no
330 permanent jobs at an average salary reported as $112,550 by WBRC and as $115,000 by the Alabama Political Reporter, which quoted the developer's representative. WBRC put construction at 1,000 jobs over a seven to eight year build; the Alabama Political Reporter reported about 1,000 temporary jobs each year. All are developer claims with no agreement to enforce them.
Softening languageEvery job figure is a developer claim. No agreement exists that could require any of them.
A strong version: Local subcontracting goals and haul-route road repair paid by the operator
A strong version: No NDA, the agreement is public, and an independent audit on a schedule
NDA: yes · agreement public: no · dashboard: no · audit: none · independent: no
Mayor Kenneth Gulley, chief of staff Christopher Warren, and city attorney Aaron Killings signed a mutual NDA effective February 5, 2025, running two years, that bars disclosing even that discussions are underway, requires the city to destroy confidential material and its own notes on the developer's request, and carries a non-circumvention clause. A February 2026 amendment added the identity of the parties and of any prospective end user or operator to the confidential list and swapped Georgia governing law for Alabama. The city released it only on June 18, 2026, after a public-records request and a threatened suit. A councilman who voted against the rezonings said he was never asked to sign an NDA and was totally shocked that officials had, and that he had not seen planning documents answering residents' questions. There is no development or incentive agreement to publish.
A strong version: A but-for test before any abatement, with the forgone revenue stated
Nothing has been adopted. A councilman said an abatement is just the norm when a business comes to your city and that the council would sit at the table on one. Alabama law allows a 30-year abatement aimed at large data centers that could amount to a tax cut of more than $500 million. In July 2026 the city attorney said QTS committed not to seek local property tax incentives from the City. The Birmingham Business Alliance analysis the city relied on does not include any tax abatements.
A councilman who voted no called the approval a grave mistake and said somebody is going to front the bill. source
The county commission president told councilors the project is about money and that the developer will in all likelihood ask the city to abate the tax revenue it is counting on. source
The NAACP asked the planning commission to halt approval, to produce complete copies of any nondisclosure agreement, and to revoke any NDA signed by council members. source
Bessemer police confronted an 80-year-old resident outside City Hall and made him remove a sign asking the mayor to meet with him about the project. source