AIBRIEF
Indiana's environmental agency has cleared Hatchworks, acting for Google, to fill about 2.
Hatchworks has secured Indiana's permission to fill about 2.13 acres of federal wetland outside Fort Wayne for a $2 billion hyperscale campus the company publicly identified as Project Zodiac.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a Section 401 water-quality certificate on June 5, 2026, greenlighting Phase III: 4.26 acres of forested wetland to be purchased, with roughly half paved over for three new data center buildings and supporting infrastructure. The company's filings, covered by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, state that "avoidance is not feasible" given the required building layout.
Phase II, approved earlier, covers 1.65 acres of unforested wetland and 0.79 acre of forested wetland. The developer is buying roughly 4 acres of mitigation bank credits to offset both phases. Project Zodiac was announced in April 2024 on an 892-acre site near Adams Center and Tillman roads, with up to nine data center buildings planned.
Construction is penciled in through 2029, with a Phase III start of September 14. The federal Section 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still pending. A 50% real-property tax abatement over 10 years and a city TIF district are the public benefits on file.