The development of a data center in north Denver met dramatic backlash on Tuesday night, with hundreds of residents packing a meeting in Elyria-Swansea to demand answers about a sprawling new computer processing center.
CoreSite, a Denver-based developer, is building the 180,000-square-foot facility and has plans for two more structures on the site. Growing furor about the plan recently led Mayor Mike Johnston to propose a pause on data centers in Denver — but the announcement wasn’t enough for a building full of frustrated neighbors.
“What I want to know is really simple,” said retired teacher Rob Prince. “Can we stop it now?”
Overflow rooms for the meeting were completely full, leaving some people to listen to the meeting outside even as temperatures dropped below 40 degrees. Occasionally, the outside crowd pounded on the windows in support of something being said inside. City officials hung their heads in silence as their words were swallowed by loud chanting.
Tensions have run high enough that the developer bailed out of the meeting, citing safety concerns — though critics dismissed that as an excuse.
Beyond noise and light pollution, residents worry the project will drain water resources, increase energy prices and periodically pollute the already polluted neighborhood with diesel backup generators.
Alfonso Espino, an organizer with the GES Coalition, said activists spent months meeting with Denver council members behind the scenes to push for a data center moratorium, which could pause the construction of future facilities for at least a few months.
While he was relieved to see Mayor Johnston endorse the idea, Espino said it doesn’t mark the end of the battle over data centers, including the CoreSite project.
“I don’t want any bare minimums,” Espino said. “The protections should be so strong that it might disincentivize the data centers from being built in the first place.”
Groups nationwide have been pushing back against an explosion of data center construction, with activism halting plans in Virginia, North Carolina and more.
Meanwhile, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a nationwide moratorium on data center construction — an idea that hasn’t picked up steam in Congress.
Tech companies are pouring billions into data centers in response to the heavy processing demands of artificial intelligence.
CoreSite was set for a rare face-to-face meeting with neighbors. It pulled out at the last minute.
Denver City Councilmember Darrell Watson originally organized the meeting so CoreSite could discuss its project with Globeville and Elyria-Swansea residents.
After the city announced its planned moratorium, however, CoreSite pulled out of the meeting.
“Given some developments over the weekend and in the interest and safety of our CoreSite team, we have made the hard decision to refrain from participating in tonight’s community meeting,” said Megan Ruszkowski, a CoreSite spokesperson, in an emailed statement.
It’s unclear what developments she was referring to.
With CoreSite absent, elected officials and representatives of agencies like Xcel Energy and Denver Water sat before the packed room at the Geotech Environmental building on 40th Avenue.
Many speakers were frustrated that CoreSite was allowed to build in the neighborhood despite limited engagement with residents. The company held a pair of sparsely attended community meetings in 2024 before construction began, but community groups say it wasn’t enough.
“When I hear somebody say this is the start of the process tonight, that is negligence,” said a woman who did not identify herself.
At times, the panel was drowned out by jeering from the audience, and there was a deep disconnect between the official speakers and the crowd.
On one hand, the official types tried to direct the discussion to the future, talking about how similar data centers could be kept out of beleaguered neighborhoods.
“We do not have data center regulations within our (city) code right now … That's why we need to change the code and that's why we've been discussing with Community Planning and Development,” Watson said early in the meeting.
But neighbors frequently were more concerned about the present.
“We do not know about process or [expletive] permits or what should have happened before the data center came in and ate up all our water,” said Clarise Williams, a Community College of Denver employee. “We want to know how to stop it.”
Officials notably avoided answering whether or not construction of the CoreSite facility could be stopped. While the moratorium will temporarily prevent the company from building two more planned data center buildings in Elyria-Swansea, it doesn’t affect construction on the first portion of its project.
Espino has one idea for how city officials could win back the neighborhood’s trust: use eminent domain to force CoreSite to sell its land.
“The city has used eminent domain for everything except for the people of these neighborhoods. They did it with CDOT, they did it for the National Western,” he said. “My suggestion is they should look into that too.”
After the meeting, a crowd stayed outside the Geotech building for a makeshift rally. Many said they were upset that CoreSite pulled out of the meeting at the last minute, saying they didn’t buy the company’s safety concerns.
“People were not going to attack them. They would've attacked them verbally, but nobody was going to attack them physically,” said Nancy Fey, a retired nurse. “They just didn't have a way, they had no good answers. So how are they going to address a crowd like this?”
Espino felt that the meeting would have been more productive if CoreSite had shown up.
“Our expectation up until this morning was that they would be here to answer our platform and our demands, and we've been doing and operating and will continue to do so in good faith,” Espino said. “But to not show up to a meeting that was built all around you is shameful and quite stupid in my opinion.”
CoreSite’s withdrawal frays an already tenuous relationship with the neighborhood.
Before the meeting, local activists passed out papers outlining a potential “good neighbor agreement” — a deal between a business and neighborhood groups to address specific community issues.
Local groups want CoreSite to install cleaner backup generators, disclose its power and water usage, fund a community health study and refuse to work with companies engaged in “mass surveillance” and “dragnet policing.”
The group also wants the company to drop plans for the two additional buildings in Elyria-Swansea. The full plan includes 590,000 square feet of interior space, but that expansion depends on future demand for CoreSite services and wouldn’t move forward until the 2030s, Ruszkowski says.
If fully built, the project's electricity usage would peak at around 60 megawatts, more than the total power currently required to operate Denver International Airport.
Cooling data processors inside the first building alone will require up to 275,000 gallons of water per day, roughly equal to the average daily irrigation at some of Denver's larger golf courses. The fully completed site is expected to require up to 805,000 gallons of water per day.
CoreSite, however, has said its project would generate $200 million in property taxes over two decades for local services. Last year, the company also announced plans to revamp a computer room at the local Boys & Girls Club and pledged to join other companies to donate $25,000 to Denver community groups.
“We remain committed to working alongside community partners and the city on its mediation process for a good neighbor agreement. Community input and engagement is important to us, which is why we have met with the community in the past,” Ruszkowski said.
