Developer Sues For $300M After a New Jersey Town Banned Data Centers

Hexa Builders has initiated a $300 million lawsuit against Monroe Township, New Jersey, alleging constitutional rights violations after the town enacted a ban on data centers, effectively blocking the developer's proposed 1 million-square-foot facility. The project, initially approved as a warehouse development, was later amended by Hexa to include a data center, sparking significant community backlash and "bait-and-switch" concerns.

The controversy escalated following a January planning board meeting where Hexa received preliminary approval for two warehouses on Black Horse Pike farmland. However, community members, citing a pattern in New Jersey, anticipated the conversion to data centers, especially after the township had previously amended the property's redevelopment plan to allow such construction. In April, the Monroe Town Council passed two ordinances: one specifically removing data centers as a permitted use on Hexa's site and another imposing a town-wide ban on data center development.

At a special meeting on May 12, Monroe's Planning Board declared Hexa's amended data center application incomplete, which officials considered the project's end. Hexa's attorney, M. James Maley, argues the Council "caved into public pressure" and that Mayor Greg Wolfe's alleged statements to "stop all data centers" demonstrate a violation of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, framing data centers as "communications technology" and citing equal protection laws. Maley also defended the project's environmental design, which included a closed-loop water system and on-site generation. Hexa is seeking to overturn the ordinances, validate its application, and receive over $300 million in damages.