Applied Digital (APLD) plans second major data center at Brookwood, Alabama.

A second data center project is advancing in Brookwood, entirely separate from the Applied Digital development revealed last week. The Brookwood Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended annexing and rezoning 374 acres for the project on Tuesday, with the recommendation now heading to the City Council for a final vote on September 15.

The project is being pursued by Project Brookwood LLC on behalf of Youngwoo & Associates, a New York real estate developer with experience in data center development. County records show Youngwoo already owns 200 acres on Brookwood Parkway, directly across from Brookwood Middle School. An additional 374 acres of adjoining property, controlled by ALAWEST-AL LLC, are listed as "currently under contract" for the development. Upon annexation into Brookwood city limits, the land would be rezoned from single-family residential to M1 light industrial, the same classification applied to other parcels along Brookwood Parkway.

The Youngwoo development is geographically and structurally distinct from the Applied Digital project, which sits on 1,300 acres to the east and is being developed by a different company, City Engineer Collins Espy confirmed during the Tuesday meeting.

At a packed planning and zoning committee hearing, Birmingham attorney Tim Davis represented Project Brookwood and stated the company was acquiring additional property "for a variety of uses, none of which have been set in stone yet." The rezoning application explicitly identifies the planned use as a "Data Center Campus," though one committee member suggested it could be an automotive supplier facility. Despite nearly an hour of resident questions, concerns, and opposition, the three committee members and Mayor Joe Barger voted unanimously to recommend rezoning.

Mayor Barger invoked the city's long-standing industrial development strategy. "We have planned for over 30 years to work this in as an industrial parkway," he told residents. "From George Newell Road to the interstate, there are no homes. It's not residential. We have planned for years for that to be our industrial parkway."

Concerns arose regarding both projects' proximity to Brookwood Middle School, built in 2002. Barger acknowledged the issue, saying, "If I had been involved in the negotiations for the development of the middle school, I would never have been in favor of that location," and suggested the school may need to relocate to accommodate Brookwood's industrial growth, noting it is "outdated and overcrowded."

The City Council will vote on the rezoning September 15 at 4:30 p.m.