Athena Studios data center conversion (Athena Drive)
Athens, Clarke County, GA
A new data center, Athena Studios data center conversion (Athena Drive), has been announced in Athens, GA. Early-stage (other). Athena Studios submitted plans to convert its Athens film studio campus and nearby land into a data center of about 1.3 million sq ft; the site is zoned light industrial and would likely need rezoning, and Athens-Clarke County has kept a data center moratorium in place into 2026 while it writes rules, with residents petitioning against the project. Not confirmed by the developer or local officials; location approximate. Sources: https://www.ajc.com/business/2025/12/athens-film-studio-wants-to-reboot-as-a-data-center/ https://www.wuga.org/local-news/2026-02-18/athens-data-center-conversion-continues https://www.change.org/p/say-no-to-the-proposed-data-center-at-athena-studios.
Project status
- Announced
- Permitting
- Under constructionNot yet
- OperationalNot yet
Recorded changes
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Community sentiment
Should this project be built?
What’s next
Election Day is in 10 days.
Latest news
Nothing written about this data center yet.
Stories about it, and about Clarke County, GA, land here.
Records and documentation
Georgia state legislation
- Georgia PSC Docket #56310 - Certification of Supplemental Resources for 2028-2031 CapacityCompanion certification docket to #56298, part of the same Dec 2025 generation-capacity approval package tied to data-center demand growth.Download
- Georgia PSC Docket #56002 - Georgia Power 2025 Integrated Resource PlanFiled Jan 2025, projecting ~8,200-8,500MW of load growth through 2030 overwhelmingly attributed to data centers. Approved July 2025.Download
- Georgia PSC Docket #44280 - Large-Load Tariff Rule + Rate FreezePSC adopted a rule (Jan 2025) requiring large-load customers ≥100MW to sign customized contracts with financial guarantees, plus a July 2025 stipulated agreement freezing Georgia Power base rates through 2028 to shield residential ratepayers from data-center cost-shifting.Download
- Georgia PSC Docket #56298 - Certification of Capacity from 2029-2031 All-Source RFPUnanimously approved Dec 2025 -- ~9,885MW combined (with companion docket #56310) of new generation capacity, explicitly to meet data-center-driven demand.Download
- HB6984 - Data Center Transparency Act (environmental reporting)Requires reports on data center effects on air/water quality and electricity consumption.Download
- SB408 - Advances sunset date for data center tax exemptionAdvances the sunset date for the data center equipment sales and use tax exemption.Download
- HB4319 - Property Owner Protection from Data Center Impacts ActProvides compensation to property owners for harm caused by data center construction or operation within 1,000 feet.Download
- SB232 - One-year moratorium on hyperscale data centersImposes a one-year moratorium on construction or expansion of hyperscale data centers.Download
- HB1059 - Data Center Impact Assessment and Development Moratorium Act of 2026Prohibits construction or development of new data centers for a specified time pending impact assessment.Download
- Nine-Month MoratoriumCamden County, Georgia enacted a nine-month moratorium on data center development, May 5, 2026.Download
- Resolution 2025-193 (Moratorium)Clayton County moratorium on new data centers, approved September 2, 2025, expired December 31, 2025.Download
- Ordinance 25-O-1063Second Atlanta zoning ordinance on data centers, adopted June 2, 2025.Download
- Data Center Text Amendment (lifted moratorium ordinance)DeKalb County, Georgia ordinance lifting its data center moratorium and replacing it with zoning text amendments, January 22, 2026.Download
- Data Center Ban Lifted / Replacement OrdinanceAthens-Clarke County lifted its data center ban and replaced it with a regulatory ordinance on April 9, 2026.Download
- Ordinances 24-O-1218 & 24-O-1222Atlanta zoning ordinances enacted September 3, 2024 regulating data center siting.Download
- Georgia PSC Docket #55378 - Large Load Economic Development ReportingHome of Georgia Power's recurring quarterly large-load/data-center pipeline reports (GW of prospective customers, materialization/attrition rates). Named customers referenced across filings: QTS, Meta, Microsoft, Google, X, Walmart.Download
- SB34 - Public Service Commission; costs incurred by an electric utility as a result of providing electric services to commercial data centers from being included in any rates; prohibitDescription comingDownload
Site details
- Operator
- Not announced
- County
- Clarke County, GA
- Address
- Athens, GA
- Stage
- Announced
Capacity and size: not on file
Map
Photos
Aerial imageryUSGS The National Map · public domain
Georgia’s data center building boom comes with a cost for schoolsThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ComEd customers could pay billions for data center hookups, warns utility watchdog groupShaw Local Enewspapers
An $8 billion Treasury break helped Meta’s tax rate hit 2%. Senators want data center tax answersFortune
The states with the fewest and most data centers, rankedBusiness Insider
Finns Are Seething After Google Illegally Toppled 250,000 Trees for a Data CenterMother Jones
Google offer to pay others to help data center powerArkansas Online
Other data centers near Athens
- Old Elberton Road industrial tract (data center rezoning denied, still marketed)
- Commerce 288-acre data center corridor site (Ila Road)
- Ardent Data Centers Maysville (GA1)
- Baymare / Morning Hornet data center (Stanton Springs, second campus)
- Meta Stanton Springs / Newton Data Center Campus
- Atlas Development Social Circle data center (Hawkins Academy Road)
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