The Hammond Common Council voted unanimously Dec. 22 to approve a 60‑day extension of the development agreement for a proposed 450,000‑square‑foot AI data center at 301 Digital Crossroads Drive, Mayor McDermott said.

McDermott told the council the extension does not change the agreement’s terms and was unanimously approved last week by the Hammond Redevelopment Commission. “Tonight, my administration is asking the Hammond Council to approve a 60 day extension to our original agreement,” he said, adding that the city would not alter negotiated provisions as parties complete remaining items.

Why it matters: the mayor said Decennial Group will build the facility and CoreWeave will be the sole tenant under a 20‑year lease. “The city of Hammond receives 4,000,000 a year in community impact payments for the next 20 years for a total of $80,000,000,” McDermott said, framing the project as the largest investment in Hammond’s history.

Key financial and scheduling points outlined by the mayor include a developer request for a standard 10‑year construction abatement for Decennial and a 20‑year technology deduction for CoreWeave under Indiana law, ongoing negotiations with NIPSCO over power procurement and infrastructure, and a tentative $25,000,000 lump‑sum commitment the administration said it has secured from the developer. McDermott said that $25 million is being finalized and would likely be documented during the 60‑day extension; he also said the payment currently is envisioned to flow through a nonprofit to address accounting and tax considerations.

Council members pressed city officials on power reliability and prioritization during outages. One member cited outages in other states and asked whether residents would be prioritized over industry; McDermott replied that large data centers maintain backup generators and battery systems and reiterated that grid electrons are metered separately, while NIPSCO secures supply. McDermott also told the council that NIPSCO created a data‑center subsidiary (described in the meeting as “Genco”) to manage data‑center power arrangements, which he said has affected the project timeline.

Environmental questions surfaced in the discussion and public comment. A council member asked whether Hammond maintains local environmental criteria for data centers; McDermott said the city currently follows state guidance and that creating separate local rules could risk making Hammond less attractive to developers. At public comment, resident Mary Shones urged the council to require an independent environmental review before approving major projects and asked how the city will avoid long‑term environmental harm.

What happens next: the resolution approving the 60‑day extension (Resolution 25R‑26) passed on a roll call vote of 8‑0. McDermott said the parties will use the extension period to finalize power agreements and the timing/mechanism for the developer’s additional commitment; he also said the council should expect further redevelopment‑commission and council votes on any amended agreement terms.

Provenance: transcript discussion introducing the topic began with the mayor’s address and data‑center description (topic intro: SEG 031) and concluded with the resolution roll call and the record of passage (topic finish: SEG 889).