Australian investment firm HMC Capital has withdrawn its proposal to build a 250,000 sq ft (23,225 sqm) data center in Monterey Park, California.

“The applicant hereby withdraws its pending application for the project,” reads a letter sent by HMC Capital to the City of Monterey Park.

It marks the end of a tumultuous planning process that began when HMC filed for a public review of the development, known as the 1977 Saturn Data Center Project, in October 2024.

Public hostility led the Monterey Park City Council to postpone whether to approve the construction of the facility from December 2025 to January 2026.

A petition against the data center has gathered more than 6,000 signatures at the time of writing.

But the city then unanimously approved a moratorium on all pending and new “data center land use applications within Saturn Park,” further delaying the project.

The council argued that the moratorium would give it time to “prepare regulations for… consideration that would prohibit data centers throughout Monterey Park,” said the council in a press release.

In early March, the city voted to extend the moratorium through January 21, 2027, and agreed to place a measure on a ballot in June that would permanently prohibit data centers within the city.

“These regulations are not conducive for data center development,” reads HMC Capital’s letter.

“In addition, the Applicant does not intend to contest the forthcoming ballot proposition.”

HMC has also stated that it will try to establish “productive land uses” supported by the local community.

Monterey Park is a city in the Greater Los Angeles area, one of California’s data center hotspots.