The Digital Campus Proposal

Who is behind it? Natelli Investments LLC, a Maryland developer has applied to build a massive data center on 189 acres on Shearon Harris Road in New HIll, North Carolina (Wake County)
What is being requested? The proposal asks the Town of Apex to annex the land, rezone it from rural/residential to light industrial, and amend the Apex Unified Development Ordinance to add a definition for “data storage facility.”
What's Planned?
- 4–6 large buildings, each up to 70 feet tall
- Up to 100 diesel generators (3 MW each), running weekly for testing and during outages
- A facility drawing up to 300MW of power, about 30% of Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant’s output
- Cooling needs met with treated wastewater (up to 1M gallons per day) from the Western Wake Regional Water Reclamation Facility, with one-third expected to evaporate into the air (carrying potential pollutants)
Economic claims by the developer:
- $1 billion total investment
- About $10 million in annual tax revenue to Apex and Wake County, plus $1.2 million to the state
Where it stands now? The developer filed its annexation, rezoning, and text amendment applications with the Town of Apex on September 2, 2025. Since then, the project was presented to the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB), which voted to approve moving it forward to the next phase of review. This means the proposal will now advance through additional town boards and ultimately to the Apex Town Council for final consideration.