Steve Flowers, the Village President of North Pekin, Illinois, has said that a former AMC theater in the area will not be turned into a data center.

“There is no way that I see in the foreseeable future that a data center would locate here, just because of the logistics of the place and the area they need to operate,” Flowers told 25News at a board meeting on June 8.

Local residents were worried that the potential rezoning of the former AMC Pekin 14 at 1124 Edgewater Drive, set to be considered today at the North Pekin Planning and Zoning Commission, would lead to a potential data center proposal.

The property was bought by IT company North 52, and rumors spread online that this would lead to a data center proposal.

But Flowers has dismissed this as a rumor, telling 25News that “it has no merit.”

DCD has reached out to North 52 for comment.

As its name suggests, North Pekin is located north of Pekin, and both are located south of Peoria in Illinois.

Last month, data center developer Western Hospitality Partners withdrew its proposal to build a data center in Pekin, some two months after Pekin Mayor Mary Burress publicly announced that the city would not be moving forward with the project.