Data centers continue to be a hot topic in New Jersey—and the country at large. As more and more towns weigh the option of banning data centers outright, some have already taken action.
One of those towns is Monroe Township, which banned data centers in April after a proposed warehouse by Hexa Builders was met with a harsh response from the community.
Now, Hexa Builders is suing—seeking $300 million in damages, claiming its constitutional rights were violated after the town pulled the project.
How It Got Here
Controversy began at a packed planning board meeting back in January. Officials granted Hexa preliminary site plan approval to build two warehouses on vacant farmland along Black Horse Pike. Upon completion, the project was estimated to total 1.6 million square feet.
Community members warned of a bait-and-switch, suggesting the warehouses could become data centers. This isn’t a conspiracy—data centers have popped up all throughout New Jersey, and Monroe had even amended the property’s redevelopment plan in 2025 to specifically allow data center construction.
The community was right to cast out warnings. Two weeks prior to the ban vote, Hexa Builders filed an amended application swapping the larger warehouse for a 1 million-square-foot data center, according to GovTech.
In April, the Council passed two ordinances: removed data centers as a permitted use specifically on Hexa’s site, and an outright ban on data center development across the town.
“Since January, when data centers became a topic in Monroe Township, our township has been deeply committed to addressing our residents’ concerns while creating a lawful ordinance to protect this township and ban all data centers from ever coming to Monroe Township,” local officials said following the vote.
At a special meeting on May 12, Monroe’s Planning Board declared the amended application incomplete. Township officials cite this decision as the effective end to the project—allowing the bans to take full effect.
The Lawsuit
According to Inc, the lawsuit filed by Hexa Group revealed transcripts from the meeting, where Mayor Greg Wolfe allegedly stated they will do “everything in our power to stop all data centers from coming here” and would even go as far as to push land-use boards to “flat-out deny” the contracts.
The attorney representing Hexa, M. James Maley, claimed the Council had “caved into public pressure,” arguing that the abrupt cancellation was a violation of First Amendment rights, framing the data centers as “communications technology” and therefore under the blanket of free speech. He also claims a violation of Fourteenth Amendment rights, stating the ban after approval goes against equal protection law.
Maley also defended the project’s environmental footprint, arguing the proposed data center would have used a closed-loop water system and been powered by an on-site generator rather than the grid—which he alleges would have the same, or less, impact on the environment than the original warehouse plan. “It’s not just with Monroe,” Maley said. “There’s a fervor now, you know? Data centers are ‘bad.'”
Hexa is asking a judge to overturn both ordinances, rule its application complete, and award more than $300 million in damages. Until then, the project is seemingly dead. Whether a judge grants their wishes remains to be seen—as does the community response to it.
Peter Candia is the Food + Drink Editor at New Jersey Digest. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Peter found a passion for writing midway through school and never looked back. He is a former line cook, server and bartender at top-rated restaurants in the tri-state area. In addition to food, Peter enjoys politics, music, sports and anything New Jersey.
