QUICK SUMMARY
As of September 2026, QTS Data Centers is pursuing a data center campus on the Project Marvel site in Bessemer, a footprint that grew to roughly 1,600 acres after the city rezoned an additional 914 acres in April 2026. For McCalla-area buyers and sellers, the short answer is that nothing about your home value changes on the day a rezoning passes. What changes over several years is construction traffic, employment, utility planning and the mix of buyers looking here. The right move now is to ask specific questions about a specific address, not to react to the headline.
The Williams Group at Keller Williams Realty works the McCalla and western Jefferson County market, and this has become the most common question we get from sellers there. It deserves a careful answer rather than a confident one, because a lot of what is being said about this project on social media is not what the record actually shows.
What is actually approved, and what is not?
The zoning is done. The buildings are not. In April 2026 the Bessemer City Council approved rezoning an additional 914 acres, owned by Logistic Land Investment LLC, from agricultural to light industrial. That brought the overall campus to roughly 1,600 acres.
Bigger acreage did not mean more buildings. City officials and project representatives said the expansion spreads the same 18 planned structures across more land, producing more open space and wider buffers between the development and nearby homes.
A highway conflict drove the expansion. The original site sat in the path of a planned interchange for the future Northern Beltline, and the redesign moves construction away from that corridor.
The operator is now public. A QTS Data Centers spokesperson confirmed to WBRC in early July 2026 that the company is pursuing plans for a campus on the Project Marvel site. The Birmingham Business Journal reported the land changed hands in deals worth more than $870 million.
Opposition has not ended. A legal challenge to the rezoning was dismissed in June 2026, and an organized “AI Data Center Revolt” bus tour made a stop in Bessemer on September 14, 2026. This remains a live public debate.
What have the company and the city put on the record?
Two commitments matter most to nearby homeowners, and both come from the parties themselves rather than from speculation.
QTS told WBRC its approach is “designed so project-related costs are not passed on to local utility ratepayers,” and that its data centers use a closed-loop cooling system that does not consume water for cooling once operational. The company also said the project is expected to support thousands of jobs across construction, contractors and long-term operations.
Bessemer City Attorney Aaron Killings said the city is “encouraged that QTS has committed not to seek local property tax incentives from the City,” and that as a result the project is expected to generate substantial new property tax revenue for both the City of Bessemer and the Bessemer Board of Education.
Those are statements of intent, not signed guarantees, and we would describe them that way to a client. But they are the actual record, and they are more specific than most of what circulates about this project.
Live in McCalla and want to know what is really happening on your street? Call or text 205-292-7142 and we will pull the sales, not the rumors.
Does McCalla sit close enough for this to matter?
McCalla is unincorporated, spans the Jefferson and Tuscaloosa county line, and sits along the I-20/59 corridor just southwest of Bessemer. It shares the same commuting spine, the same interstate interchanges and much of the same labor shed. So yes, it is close enough to be affected, and the effects will not be uniform across it.
The variable that actually decides the answer is not the city you are in. It is which road your house is on and how construction routes to the site. A subdivision that sits off a two-lane feeder likely to carry heavy construction traffic has a different five-year experience than one three interchanges away that simply gains a nearby employment center. We have already started mapping this for clients by address rather than by zip code.
What should a McCalla buyer ask before writing an offer?
1. What is the zoning of the land adjacent to this property, and who owns it? Not what is built on it today. Vacant acreage next to a growing industrial corridor is the thing to check.
2. Where will construction traffic route? Construction phases of large campuses last years and move a lot of heavy vehicles. Ask the county engineer’s office what haul routes are planned.
3. Which side of the county line am I on, and which school system? McCalla straddles a line that affects taxes and services. Get the parcel confirmed rather than assumed.
4. Is the Northern Beltline corridor anywhere near this parcel? A planned interchange changes a neighborhood more reliably than a data center a few miles away does.
5. What did comparable homes in this subdivision sell for in the last 90 days? Recent closings tell you what buyers are actually doing about all of the above. Everything else is opinion.
The Williams Group perspective
We are not going to tell you a data center campus will raise your home value, and we are not going to tell you it will lower it. We do not have data that supports either claim for this project, and anyone who says otherwise this early is selling something.
What we can say from working western Jefferson County and eastern Tuscaloosa County at the same time is that large industrial projects tend to move housing in two stages. During the construction years, the visible effects are traffic, noise on haul routes and short-term rental demand from crews. In the operating years, the effects are employment, tax base and whatever the site looks like from the roads people actually drive. Those two stages often pull in opposite directions, which is why owners who sell on the first headline sometimes regret it.
The same dynamic is playing out on the other side of the county line right now with the proposed Brookwood data center projects, including a second 374-acre rezoning. Watching both markets at once has been useful. The pattern we keep seeing is that the debate is loudest well before anything is built, and that buyer behavior on individual streets changes much less than the volume of the conversation suggests.
If you own in McCalla, the practical takeaway is: do not make a decision off a Facebook thread. Get an address-specific read. If you are buying here, the corridor already has real job growth independent of this project, which we covered in our look at McCalla job growth and housing in 2026, and background on the area is in our Complete Guide to McCalla.
Considering selling before construction ramps up? Get a free valuation based on closed sales in your subdivision, and we will walk you through the timing honestly.
Frequently asked questions
Who is building the Bessemer data center?
QTS Data Centers confirmed in July 2026 that it is pursuing plans for a data center campus on the Project Marvel site in Bessemer. The rezoned land was owned by Logistic Land Investment LLC, and the Birmingham Business Journal reported the property changed hands in deals worth more than $870 million.
How big is the Project Marvel site?
Roughly 1,600 acres after Bessemer rezoned an additional 914 acres in April 2026. Officials said the larger footprint holds the same 18 planned buildings with more open space and wider buffers to neighboring homes.
Will the data center use a lot of local water?
QTS has said its design uses a closed-loop cooling system that does not consume water for cooling once the facility is operational. That is the company’s stated design. Water and energy questions remain part of the ongoing public review, and residents have continued to raise them.
Should I sell my McCalla home now because of this?
Not on the headline alone. Whether selling makes sense depends on your own timeline, your equity, your next housing step and what homes in your specific subdivision are closing for today. Those are answerable questions and we are glad to answer them for your address at 205-292-7142.
Sources
QTS confirmation, company and city statements, and the $870 million land transaction: WBRC, “QTS confirms plans for proposed data center campus in Bessemer,” July 2026
914-acre rezoning approval and campus expansion to roughly 1,600 acres: ABC 33/40, “Bessemer approves rezoning of 914 acres for Project Marvel data center”
Northern Beltline conflict and revised site plan: WBRC, “Proposed data center campus in Bessemer expands to 1,600 acres in updated plan”
Continued public opposition, September 2026: WBRC, “AI Data Center Revolt bus tour stops in Bessemer”
Last updated: September 2026.
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