A data center spanning 14.4 acres could be built in eastern Detroit near the city’s Coleman Young Airport.

Reports have surfaced this week saying that a proposal to build a data center at 11031 and 11081 Shoemaker Street had been received by the City after it issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) earlier last October.

The RFP was issued to solicit redevelopment proposals from a variety of sectors, and not just the data center industry. These other sectors include the automotive industry, the energy industry, the life sciences industry, research and development projects, as well as aerospace and defense.

The parcel is currently owned by the City of Detroit and was previously used for industrial purposes by occupants, including the Candler Radiator Company, the Federal Mogul Corporation, and the Ernst Fuel and Supply Company.

But details about the data center’s capacity, purpose, developer, and end-user are unknown at this stage, as per the RFP’s restrictions on making proposals public.

“Reasonable precautions will be taken to avoid disclosing content and proprietary or confidential information to competing proposers or the public up to the time of issuance of a development agreement,” reads the document.

But the proposal could be shot down if Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield decides to impose a temporary moratorium.

Just last week, the Detroit City Council passed a non-binding resolution asking the Mayor to consider doing so, arguing that the moratorium would allow the city to conduct a study into the impact of data centers.

A spokesperson for the Mayor told Michigan Public that she is “aware of the data center moratorium passed [last Wednesday]... she will fully vet the request and make a decision that is in the best interest of Detroiters and the future of our city.”

It has become common for local authorities across the US to pass moratoriums on data center development. If Detroit chooses to impose a moratorium, it would join a host of other localities in Michigan that have also resorted to similar measures, including the City of Gibraltar, which passed a one-year moratorium two weeks ago.

Proposed moratoriums have become a popular tool used by anti-data center politicians and figures to clamp down on development, with some even calling for state-wide and nationwide moratoriums.

Michigan State Representative Jennifer Wortz proposed a one-year state-wide data center moratorium in Michigan earlier last month, and US Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are set to introduce a bill proposing a nationwide moratorium today.