TL;DR · 30-second read
The Short Version
Digital Realty, one of the world’s biggest owners of buildings that house internet servers, is building a $3 billion complex in Georgia on land the Army used as a dumping ground for about 40 years.
Workers digging there found buried drums of white phosphorus, a chemical that bursts into flame and thick white smoke when it touches air. A police bomb squad was called, and work in that area stopped.
The company expects to spend more than $100 million cleaning up the land. It paid $120 million for it.
Hunterbrook Media reported on October 19 that construction crews at Digital Realty’s planned $3 billion data center on a 97-acre parcel of the former Fort Gillem Army base in Georgia dug up white phosphorus that “reacted when exposed to air and exhibited a dense white smoke.” That description comes from a letter sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division on Digital Realty’s behalf. Work in the area was halted immediately, local police sent a bomb squad, and specialists later removed five 30-gallon steel drums containing the material, a Digital Realty spokesperson said.
Digital Realty bought the parcel for $120 million. Its project website says it expects to invest more than $100 million in site remediation. The contaminated area will sit directly beneath the planned building and, according to the environmental consultant’s letter, “will be encapsulated with a concrete building foundation.”
Executive Summary
One of the largest data center owners in the world is building a $3 billion campus on land the Army used from 1941 until around 1980 as an “indiscriminate burial” site for waste ranging from solvents to munitions. Unearthing white phosphorus, a substance that ignites on contact with air, stopped work in part of the site and brought out a bomb squad. Digital Realty says the five drums recovered were “far less than could have been encountered across the full area.”
The episode matters beyond one project because of its numbers. A cleanup budget of more than $100 million on a $120 million parcel means the cost of dealing with the ground’s past is approaching the cost of the ground itself. For anyone who develops, finances or leases large data center campuses, that shows a former industrial or military site’s history is a cost and schedule item of its own, not a footnote to the land price.
The company’s chosen remedy also has long-term implications. Sealing the affected area under the building’s concrete foundation, rather than removing everything, makes the structure itself part of the environmental control for as long as it stands.
The Cleanup Bill Is Closing In on the Land Price
Two figures from Digital Realty’s own materials frame the economics. The company paid $120 million for the parcel and expects to invest more than $100 million in remediation, meaning cleanup, according to its project website. The cleanup budget is therefore equal to more than four-fifths of the purchase price. Together, buying and preparing the ground accounts for at least $220 million, roughly 7% of the project’s $3 billion headline figure. The company has not said whether that $3 billion includes the land and remediation.
Site-selection models typically treat land as a modest input next to buildings, electrical gear and cooling systems. This site shows how that assumption can break down. Environmental history adds a separate cost category and a separate schedule risk. The white phosphorus discovery set off a sequence of steps: stop work, call police, bring in a bomb squad, and have specialists excavate the drums. Every one of those steps has to finish before concrete can go into that part of the site. The people affected are developers modelling delivery dates, lenders underwriting construction timelines, and tenants waiting for capacity to come online.
This is one project, and it does not by itself establish an industry trend. It does show a mechanism. Large, contiguous parcels of the size data center campuses need are hard to find near major metros. Former military and industrial land is one place they still exist in one piece, and that land comes with whatever was left in it.
Encapsulation Makes the Foundation Part of the Remedy
According to the consultant’s letter, the area where the munitions were found will sit directly beneath the planned data center and will be “encapsulated with a concrete building foundation.” Encapsulation means containing contamination in place under a barrier instead of digging all of it up and hauling it away. Compared with full excavation, it usually means less disturbance and a faster path to building.
The trade-off is permanence. Once the slab is the barrier, the building and the remedy are tied together. Future work that cuts into the ground, such as new utility runs, expansions or eventual demolition decades from now, has to account for what lies underneath. That is a question for the owner, and also for tenants signing long leases, insurers pricing the asset, and any future buyer doing due diligence. Digital Realty has not described the regulatory conditions, monitoring or long-term obligations attached to the plan.
A Known Risk, and Ample Capital to Address It
The site’s condition was not a secret. In a 2025 meeting with county officials, a Digital Realty asset manager said, “There’s quite a bit of environmental issues with the site … Tons and tons and tons of — physical tons — of trash and environmental hazards.” The spokesperson’s comment that five drums were “far less than could have been encountered across the full area” can be read two ways. It reassures that the find was modest relative to what the company expected. It also acknowledges that more material could still be present across 97 acres.
Money does not look like the binding constraint. In an 8-K filed October 9, Digital Realty disclosed that a finance subsidiary sold €1 billion of 5.125% guaranteed notes due 2036, for net proceeds of about €985.8 million. The company intends to allocate an amount equal to those proceeds to “Eligible Green Projects,” a category that includes pollution prevention and control and green buildings. The filing does not tie the proceeds to the Georgia site. It does show a company that can raise ten-year capital at scale. For this project, the more open variables are time and regulatory sign-off.
The Neighbors’ Side of the Ledger
Nearby residents have reported property damage from ongoing rock blasting at the site. Pamela Felder said blasting caused numerous cracks inside and outside her home. A Digital Realty spokesperson said that after evaluating the complaints, “it was determined that the damage claims were not the result of site activities.”
Both positions leave fair questions. For the company: who conducted the evaluation, by what method, and was it independent? For claimants: what documentation exists of each home’s condition before blasting began? These disputes matter for schedules as well as reputations. Local goodwill shapes how smoothly permits, inspections and later phases proceed. Digital Realty’s stock closed Friday at $175.97, up 0.86% on the day and 13.74% year to date. That close came before the report was published, so it does not reflect any market reaction.
Background
Digital Realty Trust is one of the largest data center owners in the world. It is structured as a real estate investment trust, a company that owns income-producing property and pays out most of its earnings to shareholders. It builds and leases facilities where cloud providers, enterprises and network operators rent space, power and connectivity for their servers. Demand for that capacity, driven heavily by cloud computing and artificial intelligence, has pushed developers to seek large parcels that can host multi-building campuses.
Fort Gillem is a former Army installation south of Atlanta. According to the report, the Army used the parcel Digital Realty bought as a waste burial site for roughly four decades, from 1941 until around 1980. Redeveloping land like this typically requires environmental investigation and cleanup under state oversight, which in Georgia falls to the Environmental Protection Division. Source: Hunterbrook Report: Digital Realty’s $3 Billion Georgia Data Center Hits Toxic Roadblock After White Phosphorus Found At Former Army Dump — Benzinga’s account of Hunterbrook Media’s investigation into contamination at Digital Realty’s Fort Gillem site. Primary sources: Digital Realty Trust 8-K filed October 9, 2026 (€1 billion 5.125% Guaranteed Notes due 2036) — SEC EDGAR.Sources