If you live anywhere near Bells Ferry Road, you’ve probably already heard about the data center, the city council meeting in August got heated, and it’s been the topic at more than a few mailboxes and group texts since.
If you’re wondering what this actually does to your home’s value, here’s what the research says, what’s still unknown, and what’s worth doing if you’re near it and thinking about your next move.
Does a Nearby Data Center Hurt Your Home's Value?
National data is mixed, not one-sided. A 2025 George Mason University study found homes near data centers actually tended to sell for more, while a 2026 NAR survey found real estate agents almost evenly split, about 25% saw a positive effect on nearby home values, 22% saw a negative one. For homeowners near Marietta’s newly approved Bells Ferry Road data center, the honest answer is: it depends on your specific property, not the countywide trend.
What's Actually Being Built on Bells Ferry Road?
Marietta City Council approved zoning in August 2026 for a 108-megawatt data center at 1751 Bells Ferry Road, two buildings totaling roughly 347,200 square feet, at about 105 feet tall, on 31.4 acres rezoned from retail commercial to light industrial. For scale, that’s enough power draw to be comparable to roughly 80,000 homes.
It’s the second data center approved in Marietta recently, and it hasn’t gone smoothly. An organized resident group has pushed back at multiple council meetings, and the developer’s jobs estimate (around 40) is disputed by opponents, who cite closer to 5–20 permanent positions.
If you’re not near Bells Ferry Road specifically, it’s still worth knowing this is part of a broader pattern, data center proposals have been surfacing across Cobb County, and this almost certainly won’t be the last one your neighborhood hears about.
What Does the Research Actually Say About Data Centers and Home Values?
Here’s where it gets genuinely interesting, because the data doesn’t match the fear.
A George Mason University Schar School study found that homes closer to data centers actually tended to sell for more than comparable homes farther away, across single-family homes, townhouses, and condos. The likely explanation isn’t that data centers themselves are desirable. It’s that they tend to get built in places with strong existing infrastructure, reliable roads, utilities, proximity to jobs, the same things that attract homebuyers in the first place.
A separate 2026 NAR survey of real estate agents found a more split picture:
- 25% reported a positive impact on nearby residential property values
- 22% reported a negative impact
- The rest saw no clear effect either way
NAR’s chief economist put it simply: value impact comes down to proximity, visibility, local infrastructure, and noise exposure, not the broader county trend. A county can have a strong overall market while one homeowner living close to a facility has a completely different experience than one living a mile away.
The concerns residents raise aren’t imaginary, either. Noise from cooling systems and backup generators, increased truck traffic during construction, and questions about water and energy use are the most common complaints nationally, they’re just not the same thing as a guaranteed drop in your home’s resale value.
What Does This Mean If You're Nearby and Thinking About Selling?
If Bells Ferry Road, or the next data center proposal, has you wondering what it means for your own home, a few things are worth knowing:
- Distance and visibility matter more than the headline. A home a half-mile away with no sightline to the facility is in a very different position than one backing directly up to it. Countywide statistics won’t tell you which one you are.
- This isn’t something you have to guess about. The only reliable way to know what buyers would actually pay for your specific home, given its specific distance and orientation to the development, is a current market analysis, not a national study and not a neighborhood group text.
- Timing is a real consideration. Nearly 80% of sellers are overestimating what their home is worth in today’s market even without a nearby development in the mix, so if you’re weighing whether to list before or after construction starts, that’s a conversation worth having with real numbers, not assumptions in either direction.
- The long-term trend still matters. Metro Atlanta home values, including Marietta, Smyrna, Acworth, Kennesaw, and Woodstock, have climbed significantly over the past decade, I wrote about that broader trend here, and one development, positive or negative, rarely overrides years of market momentum on its own.
Whether you disclose it when you sell isn’t really the right first question. The right first question is whether it’s actually affecting what your home is worth right now, and the only honest way to answer that is to look at real comparable sales near you, not headlines about the county as a whole.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wondering What Your Home Is Really Worth Right Now?
A nearby development is exactly the kind of thing a real market analysis answers better than a headline can. Let’s walk through your specific numbers together, no obligation, just real answers.
Ken Mandich is a Realtor® and Listing Expert with Complete Realty Team, serving Metro Atlanta with a focus on Cobb and Cherokee County. You can reach him at 404-410-6465 or [email protected].
