The Hammond Redevelopment Commission on June 3 approved a development agreement with CoreWeave Incorporated and project partners to build a second data center on a 25‑acre parcel at 301 Digital Crossroads Drive.

The 5–0 vote authorizes a deal that, as described at the meeting, pairs multi‑year tax exemptions with community impact payments to the city; commission discussion highlighted projected construction jobs, long‑term technician positions and a proposed funding stream for the city’s College Bound program.

Commission staff member Dave Westland summarized the tax terms: “with regard to the first data center, there’ll be a personal property tax exemption of a 100% for 20 years … in exchange for that, there’s a $1,000,000 community impact payment. With regard to Data Center 2 … there’s a 10 year real estate exemption … plus a 20 year personal property tax exemption of a 100% … in exchange for that, the city will be receiving a payment of $3,000,000.” He added that the agreement also includes an annual imposed fee not to exceed $100,000, which staff characterized together as roughly $4,100,000 in up‑front and recurring community payments tied to the project.

Scott Miller, chief of staff to the mayor, told commissioners how the city intends to use the revenue: “one of the goals of the mayor’s office is to fully fund College Bound with this investment so that we have an identified funding source for the next 20 years.”

Representatives of CoreWeave and the site landlord described the project size and timeline. Mike Terlizzi, senior vice president of data center operations for CoreWeave, said the building is planned at about 450,000 square feet and that the site will support roughly 180 megawatts of capacity; he said CoreWeave expects the site to come online in 2027 and estimated the company would staff between 35 and 90 technicians at the facility, not including construction jobs. Decennial Group co‑founder Dave Pavlik and other partners described the site as the “data center parcel” north of Hammond and framed the development as part of a long‑running revitalization of the former State Line energy plant site.

Commissioners and presenters emphasized that the executed agreement is contingent on several additional approvals: the redevelopment commission’s vote (taken June 3), subsequent city council approval and execution of a power agreement between the developer and the utility. CoreWeave’s representatives said the site lease also depends on completing that power agreement.

The commission’s formal action was a motion to approve the development agreement, moved and seconded from the dais; the roll call recorded five affirmative votes and the measure passed. The city will present the agreement to the Hammond City Council and proceed with the outstanding commercial and utility approvals required to finalize the lease and power contract.

Next steps: the city and project partners will seek city council approval and continue work to finalize a power agreement and the lease; city staff said they will return to the commission as those contingencies are resolved.