22 Investigates: Jobs, homes surge amid data center boom in the area

Read full story here: From record breaking hotel stays to rising housing demand, economic ripple effects have already been felt throughout Saint Joseph County. Now leaders are looking for what's next. Data Centers have brought feelings of anger, confusion, and worry with concern about what the future will look like. But they've also brought an influx of people, jobs, and are changing our community's economic landscape. Vocal opposition to data centers has been clear through public meetings, protests, and many taking to social media. As construction continues, changes are becoming both clear and unclear. With more people coming to the area to work and live, different revenue streams are now coming into the community and Saint Joseph County is starting to see an increase in the sales tax consumers pay. "If you stay in a hotel, then you need a place to eat, and if you need a place to eat, then you need a place to shop, and so we're starting to see a lot of those kinds of numbers really, really dramatically jumping up,” said St. Joseph County Economic Director Bill Schalliol. Many restaurants are seeing their parking lots full with a dinner rush crowd that has nearly doubled over time, and this isn't the only change being seen. The 2025 year-end report for Saint Joseph County attributes more than 140,000 nights spent in a hotel room to the Amazon data center and the General Motors battery plant alone in the past year. That's an increase of nearly 90,000 nights from what was a record-breaking year in 2023. "What we do know is that we have increased demand, both for the short-term choices as well as for regular housing. We have helped a number of families relocate to the area because they will be working with those data centers already,” said Cressy & Everett President John De Souza. Homes and hotels aren't the only ones seeing an increase. Short-term rentals like Airbnb's and VRBO's have seen a 20% increase in bookings. "What we've experienced is that with these large industrial projects, there is a lot of construction workforce. Some of it is local. Some of it travels to the area for the project. So, we have seen a temporary demand for temporary housing, which makes sense,” said De Souza. As more people move here for permanent and temporary jobs many are wondering what will happen to the brand new homes, businesses, restaurants, and gas stations when demand lightens, and construction comes to an end. "We have been under building new homes for many years. Going back to the 2008 crash, we have just never picked up the same construction levels So, while there might be a bit of a surge right now in that demand, we're still behind where we think it's a healthy level of new construction,” said De Souza. Homes at all price points are planned, along with additional developments. "But what's next and you know the data centers aren't our future. They're kind of the right now so to speak but you know what kind of spin-off business has happened because of those or is there a whole another sector we're trying to figure out is what that next trend is and so where can we position ourselves with this new technology with these new jobs with this new workforce?,” said St. Joseph County Economic Director Bill Schalliol. What remains to be seen is whether this surge is just a moment or the foundation for the community's long-term future. https://wsbt.com/news/22-investigates/jobs-homes-surge-amid-data-center-boom-in-the-area-customers-hotels-guests-visits-impact-long-term-infrastructure-construction-utilities-citizens-developments-built-approved-st-joseph-county-indiana _________________ Stay up to date by following our social media: WSBT 22 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WSBTNews WSBT 22 on X: https://twitter.com/WSBT WSBT 22 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wsbt/ For more information, visit https://wsbt.com/ Have a news tip? Send it directly to our newsroom: wsbtnews@wsbt.com WSBT is an IN based station and a CBS Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. Sinclair owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 163 television stations in 77 markets, after pending transactions. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates.