Metro Atlanta's data center market ended March with a vacancy rate of just 1 percent, an unusually tight figure for commercial real estate, according to research firm CBRE cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The shortage comes despite a historic construction boom across the region, including major projects in Fulton County such as a nearly 2 billion dollar Microsoft data center under development by EdgeConneX on 136 acres in Union City and another Microsoft campus in the city of Palmetto.
CBRE data shows Atlanta expanded its leasable data center space by 313 percent from April 2024 through March 2025, a growth rate that outpaced every other major US market, including runner-up Chicago at 52 percent. The Atlanta region has become the country's second-largest data center market behind only Northern Virginia. Mike Lash, an executive vice president with CBRE Data Center Solutions, said demand continues to outpace supply even with a historic amount of construction underway, with much of the new capacity committed by tenants before it becomes operational.
The rapid buildout has strained Georgia's power grid and sparked pushback from residents and environmental groups. Georgia Power, the state's largest utility, is pursuing one of the largest expansions of its power generation fleet in company history largely to serve data center demand, a plan being challenged in court by environmental and faith organizations concerned that residential customers could see higher bills as a result.
Despite the friction, CBRE data shows roughly 80 percent of data center space under construction across the top four US markets, including Atlanta, was already pre-leased by the end of 2025, meaning new capacity is unlikely to meaningfully ease the vacancy shortage even as construction continues.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – https://www.ajc.com/business/2026/06/georgia-data-centers-fill-up-as-soon-as-theyre-built-driving-demand-higher/