MONTEREY PARK — More than 200 people gathered at Monterey Park City Hall to oppose a proposed data center, booing Bryan Marsh of HMC StratCap as he approached the podium while holding placards reading "No Data Center." The proposed facility would cover an area equivalent to four football fields and is located close to homes.

The data center is expected to consume three times the energy used by the entire city of Monterey Park. Residents said the project will raise their electricity bills and increase noise and air pollution.

Marsh said that HMC StratCap, an Australian company, invested tens of millions of dollars in Monterey Park and became the city's largest landowner after years of negotiations, clearances and hearings. He said that city officials had previously welcomed the company's plans to build the data center and the jobs and tax revenue that would follow. "Now, for the last few months, the city has faced intense public pressure," Marsh said.

The only supporters of the proposed data center at the meeting were a few people from HMC StratCap and some union representatives wearing orange worker vests. Supporters said that the investment had been agreed to, would create jobs and that it was hypocritical for citizens to want technological benefits while opposing its infrastructure. A member of the sheet metal workers union from the area said, "Everybody loves the juice, but they don't like how it's squeezed."

Resistance to data center construction has also emerged elsewhere in California. Residents are trying to stop data centers in Imperial County and other parts of the state. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill to pause all new data center construction until federal guardrails and safeguards for workers, communities and the environment are instituted.

Data center developers across the U.S. face delays in permitting, zoning and power procurement. The total capacity of data centers under construction in the U.S. declined in 2025 for the first time in five years, according to CBRE, even as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta are projected to spend $710 billion on data center buildouts in 2026, according to JLL. Construction of data centers increased in Chicago and the Dallas area while it declined around Silicon Valley, northern Virginia and elsewhere, according to CBRE data.

Medhi Paryavi, chairman of the Washington D.C.-based think tank International Data Center Authority, who advises governments and companies on data center projects across the U.S., said that land in California is expensive, electricity rates are high and there are numerous regulations. Meanwhile, Vernon, California, has welcomed data center investment.