Patmos Fairfield Colocation Data Center

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Patmos Fairfield Colocation Data Center in Fairfield, Jefferson County, Alabama is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. WBRC (13 Aug 2026) reports "Hundreds pack Fairfield town hall over proposed data center inside former Walmart", with residents raising health risks, rising utility bills and community benefit.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

WBRC (13 Aug 2026) reports "Hundreds pack Fairfield town hall over proposed data center inside former Walmart", with residents raising health risks, rising utility bills and community benefit. Patmos's founder answered noise concerns by saying "you'll hear the equivalent of a weed wacker" when generators run and that operations would be "quieter than the Walmart"; Patmos said "the only environmental impact is water use." Resident Bessie Bell questioned whether the project would help Fairfield's development. Mayor Herman Carnes said the city has "not seen major economic development in roughly 15 years" and promised transparency. NOTE the city council had already passed a temporary data center ban, from which this project was exempt, community reception is recorded as contested rather than opposed because the friction is documented and organized in public meetings but no vote against this project is reported.

Source: WBRC FOX6 News

Power and water

20 MW initial buildout, expanding to 45 MW.

Patmos officials said the initial 20 MW phase would use about 10,000 gallons of water per day (WBHM, August 2026). That is a company estimate for a facility not yet built, so no water-use figure is recorded. Most cooling water would circulate through closed-loop systems, with some lost to evaporation.

Notes on the record

Retrofit of a former Walmart Supercenter in Fairfield into a colocation data center. WBRC states: "Patmos would bring around 50 long-term jobs, plus roughly 120 construction workers during the build" and "If approved, construction could start in September, with the first phase completed by January or February 2027 and a larger expansion planned for 2028." WBRC gives no capacity or investment figure. WBHM (14 Aug 2026) reports that Patmos expects an initial 20 MW phase costing about $150 million and a site that eventually reaches 45 MW; the record carries the 45 MW full-buildout figure, and the $150 million investment figure covers only the initial 20 MW phase. WBRC attributes about 120 construction workers to the Fairfield build, while WBHM reports that figure as the peak construction workforce at Patmos's Kansas City project, so no construction-job figure is recorded. As of October 2026, the only street address, 7201 Aaron Aronov Dr, comes from the Baxtel listing; neither news account repeats it, and it geocodes to Western Hills Mall in OpenStreetMap, so it is not confirmed as the former Walmart and no street address is recorded. COORDINATES ARE THE FAIRFIELD MUNICIPAL CENTROID, not the building: the news sources identify the site only as "the former Walmart Supercenter" without a street address, and as of September 2026 no Walmart-named or former-retail building was found in OpenStreetMap within Fairfield's bounds. STATUS: the record is listed as proposed, construction was conditional on approval as of 13 Aug 2026, and as of September 2026 it was not confirmed whether the September 2026 groundbreaking happened. This is a genuinely distinct site from QTS Bessemer (Project Marvel), different operator, different city, though both sit in the same Birmingham-west corridor.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

• QTS Bessemer (Project Marvel) · Bessemer · QTS Data Centers5 mi · Proposed · 1.2 GW · Contested
• DC BLOX Birmingham Data Center Campus · Birmingham · DC BLOX5 mi · Operating · 60 MW
• G. Phillip Pope Technology Center (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Data Center) · Birmingham · Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama6 mi · Operating
• Nebius Birmingham AI Factory (BHM01) · Birmingham · Nebius Group6 mi · Under construction · 300 MW · In litigation
• AT&T Hoover Data Center · Hoover · AT&T11 mi · Operating
• Swift Willow Westover Data Center Campus · Westover · Swift Willow Property, LLC25 mi · Proposed · Mixed reception
• Digi Power X Columbiana AI Data Center · Columbiana · Digi Power X27 mi · Under construction · 40 MW · Contested
• Project Brookwood Data Center Campus · Brookwood · Youngwoo & Associates28 mi · Permitted

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