Eight Form withdrew its application to replace a Nash Street hotel following a three-hour public hearing dominated by resident opposition.
The developer has withdrawn plans to construct a large data center in El Segundo following intense community opposition over the project’s projected electrical demands, marking the latest clash over tech infrastructure in Los Angeles County, as reported by Urbanize Los Angeles.
Eight Form, the developer behind the proposal, announced its intent to pull the application at the conclusion of a contentious three-hour El Segundo Planning Commission hearing on July 9. The project called for demolishing a 15-year-old Hyatt Place hotel at 750 N. Nash Street to build a 160-foot-tall, five-story data center and a dedicated electrical substation.
The application triggered immediate pushback from South Bay residential groups, who organized online to oppose the rezoning. A primary factor in the community backlash was an environmental study indicating the data center would exponentially increase local power consumption compared to the current hotel.
The next scheduled El Segundo Planning Commission meeting, scheduled for July 23, was cancelled due to a “lack of quorum.”
The withdrawal reflects a growing, county-wide resistance to AI data centers, which the Lincoln Institute of Land Police calls “resource-ravenous”. Neighbors have increasingly challenged new data centers for their excessive water use, noise, and pollution, leading voters in nearby Monterey Park to pass a citywide ban on such facilities.
It has been noted that “Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.”
Despite the residential outcry, corporate demand for data centers remains. Defense and aerospace firms anchored in El Segundo’s industrial district, located just east of Pacific Coast Highway, have repeatedly cited a need for nearby data centers. The area already houses several operational data centers to support those corporations.
