If you’ve spent any time looking at the massive infrastructure boom happening south of Atlanta, you’ve probably stumbled across a name that sounds more like a boutique developer than a tech titan: Jonathon Ward. Specifically, his involvement with the headline-grabbing Jonathon Ward data center proposal—officially known in planning documents as Project Sail—has turned a quiet corner of Coweta County into a flashpoint for the future of the internet.
We aren't talking about a small server closet here. Honestly, the scale is almost impossible to wrap your head around. Imagine $17 billion. That is the estimated price tag for this campus. It’s a number so large it feels fake, but for Ward and his company, Atlas Development, it’s the core of a plan that could fundamentally change the economic DNA of rural Georgia.
Who is Jonathon Ward and What is Atlas Development?
Most people in the data center world are used to hearing from giants like Equinix or Digital Realty. Jonathon Ward is a bit of a different breed. As the owner of Atlas Development LLC, he’s basically operated as the tip of the spear for land entitlement.
Atlas Development isn't some ancient corporation; it was founded in 2017 in Whitesburg. They specialize in the "boring" but critical work of rezoning and getting land ready for massive industrial use. Ward himself has been the public face of the project, often being the one to confirm the eye-popping statistics that have left local residents and state officials both stunned and skeptical.
The Scale of the Project Sail Campus
When people search for the Jonathon Ward data center, they are usually looking for "Project Sail." Here is the reality of what Ward proposed for that 831-acre site near Newnan:
- 13 original buildings (later scaled back to 9 after the community pushed back).
- 4.9 million square feet of floor space.
- 936 megawatts of power capacity.
- $17 billion in total investment by completion in 2036.
To put that in perspective, the site is large enough to fit about 50 professional baseball stadiums. It’s massive. You’ve got to realize that 900+ megawatts is more power than the world's busiest airport uses. By a lot.
The $1.6 Billion Tax Revenue Confusion
One reason the Jonathon Ward data center became such a hot topic was a massive "oops" moment regarding tax projections. Early filings suggested the project would generate $1.6 billion in annual tax revenue for Coweta County.
That would have been roughly 14 times the county's entire annual budget.
Naturally, people flipped out. It sounded too good to be true because, well, it was. Experts later pointed out that property tax calculations in Georgia are based on 40% of the assessed value. When you run the real math using the local millage rates, the number is likely closer to $163 million a year. Still a huge windfall, but a far cry from the "billionaire county" dream that was initially floated. Ward eventually confirmed that while the $17 billion construction cost was real, the ten-figure annual tax estimate was a bit of a calculation error.
The Community Pushback and the Moratorium
It hasn't been smooth sailing for Project Sail. Local residents in Newnan and the surrounding Sargent community have been vocal. Very vocal.
They are worried about the "tsunami" of data centers. They see the 9 million gallons of water a day and the massive power lines as a threat to their rural way of life. In response, Coweta County actually hit the brakes. They passed a 180-day moratorium on new data center rezonings to figure out their own rules.
"I think it’s actually a great thing for the county," Jonathon Ward told reporters during the height of the debate. "I don’t know what else you can do to bring in that kind of tax revenue."
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Ward has argued that these facilities are "low impact" in terms of traffic and noise once they are built. Unlike a factory with thousands of cars coming and going every shift change, a data center is mostly just a quiet warehouse for blinking lights and spinning fans.
Enter Prologis: The New Power Player
In mid-2025, a major shift happened. Jonathon Ward confirmed that Prologis—a California-based industrial real estate giant—would actually be the operator for the campus.
This changed the conversation.
Atlas Development did the heavy lifting on the land and the initial "Project Sail" vision, but Prologis brings the institutional muscle to actually manage a $17 billion build-out. It’s a common move in this industry: a smaller, local-expert developer like Ward gets the land ready, and a global titan steps in to run the show.
Why Georgia is the New Data Center Mecca
You might wonder why Ward chose this specific spot. Why Georgia? Why now?
It’s about three things: land, power, and tax breaks. Georgia has historically offered generous sales tax exemptions for data center equipment. Since the servers inside these buildings have to be replaced every few years, those exemptions save companies hundreds of millions of dollars. Plus, Georgia Power has been aggressive in expanding capacity, even though that has led to some pretty heated debates about who pays for the infrastructure—the tech companies or the average homeowner.
The Technical Reality of 2026
Data centers are evolving. In 2026, we aren't just looking at storage; we are looking at AI factories. The Jonathon Ward data center design likely includes high-density racks meant for liquid cooling, which is necessary to handle the heat generated by the GPUs used in artificial intelligence.
The site's proximity to Georgia Power’s Plant Yates is no accident. These facilities need a direct "straw" into the power grid. Without it, the whole project is just a very expensive group of empty sheds.
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What You Should Watch For Next
If you are following the progress of the Jonathon Ward data center, keep your eye on the Coweta County zoning board meetings. The moratorium gave the county time to breathe, but the pressure to approve these projects is immense because of the tax base they provide.
We are seeing a trend where developers are being forced to pay for their own power substations and water treatment upgrades to appease local taxpayers. Expect Ward and Prologis to offer more "concessions" like this—better landscaping, quieter cooling systems, and infrastructure funding—to get the final green light.
For anyone living in the area or looking to invest in Georgia real estate, understanding the footprint of Project Sail is vital. It’s a bellwether for how rural communities will handle the "cloud" moving into their backyard.
Moving forward, if you are tracking this project:
- Check the DRI (Development of Regional Impact) filings. These are public and give the most accurate updates on power and water usage.
- Monitor the Georgia Power IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) updates. If the utility can't guarantee the 900+ MW needed for Project Sail, the timeline will slip.
- Watch the legal filings between Atlas and the County. Any shifts in the "site plan" usually indicate how much the developer is willing to compromise to get the project moving.
The era of the "mega-campus" is here, and whether you love it or hate it, Jonathon Ward has put Coweta County right at the center of the map.