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This newsletter is 899 words, a 3.5-minute read.

Charlotte is talking a lot about AI-powering data centers lately. But one has existed in Uptown, largely unnoticed, for two decades.

Why it matters: Since AI feels invisible, data centers like this one have become one of the most tangible representations of the AI debate, which has evolved beyond NIMBYism and your Duke bill to doomsday warnings of human extinction.

Reality check: These facilities aren't new, and we became dependent on them long before ChatGPT. They power everything from banking and online shopping to Hollywood and emergency services.

Behind the scenes: I toured Digital Realty's Uptown data center between Trade and Fifth streets, which opened in 2006.

• Unlike the expansive, windowless warehouses that are driving debates, the smaller Uptown campus looks like ordinary office buildings.
• It's a "carrier hotel," a centrally located data center where fiber, internet and telecom providers intersect to quickly move data.
• That explains why there's a data center with only six to seven workers in the heart of the city.
• Its major customers include financial institutions and cloud service providers.

Inside the room: Loud white noise fills the space, but you can't hear it from outside the double doors, let alone the brick building.

• The sound comes from HVAC systems and fans blowing cold air into cabinets of computing equipment. This containment method is one way Digital Realty reduces power usage, by only cooling parts of the room.

Overhead and underneath the floor, water circulates through pipes and chillers on the roof to produce the cool air.

• This closed-loop system is costlier but often preferred over an open-loop system, though it does use more power, says Robert Cox of UNC Charlotte's Energy Production and Infrastructure Center.
• Digital Realty employees tell me they recall only topping off the water tank once due to a slow leak.
• "From a PR perspective, I think they recognize that they should be adopting best practices," Cox says.

The intrigue: Data centers are highly secure due to the customers they can serve, but that secretiveness has contributed to the backlash and mystery around them.

• But as scrutiny about data centers grows nationwide, Digital Realty is inviting more press and officials inside. It brought in the city's data center task force this week, too.

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Digital Realty is adding a fourth building in Uptown: 200,000 square feet, 12 MW — in addition to the existing roughly 100,000 square feet, with 2 MW.

• It's also started construction on one of two 200-megawatt, 1.3 million-square-foot buildings off Moores Chapel Road in west Charlotte, with a new Duke Energy substation paid for by the developer.

The big picture: The data center boom isn't just a result of ChatGPT or Claude. It's AI being integrated into internet searches and the way we work, an explosion of new apps and media, and "just an overall increase in data that we generate," says Rafal Rak, Digital Realty's senior vice president on the development team.

• It's another effect of Charlotte's growth, too.
• When big companies expand here, they're asking for space in these types of facilities.
• Digital Realty calls Charlotte a "leading data center market," along with northern Virginia, Dallas, Atlanta, the New York metro and Silicon Valley.

Between the lines: Charlotte has enacted a moratorium on new data centers, but the temporary ban does not halt already approved projects.

What they're saying: Douglas Welton, the city's planning commission chair, says some task force members want community benefits in return for future data centers, such as involving minority- or women-owned contractors during construction or asking developers to set aside land for parks.

• "I believe there's a very easy … set of conclusions that can be reached once you get past the misinformation and the hysteria," Welton says, adding that he's eyeing buffering and adjacency requirements himself.
• Rak says data centers are already advancing to more efficient practices.
• Some newer ones, he says, run closed-loop water systems through the cabinets, eliminating the need for fans to blow out air.

The bottom line: Data center developers are finding ways to improve operations and relations so they can continue meeting the demands of the world we live in.

• But it may not be enough to solve a PR crisis when you're up against warnings of humanity's demise.

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🚗 Carvana, the car vending machine retailer, says it will add 100 jobs in the Charlotte region. (Charlotte Observer)

🏦 253 North Carolinians will lose their jobs after Charlotte-based Truist decided to sell $5.5 billion of auto loans, representing substantially all assets of its subsidiary Regional Acceptance Corp. The Greenville-headquartered automotive financing group is now closing its facilities by mid-2027. (CBJ 🔒)

🛒 Harris Teeter says it will spend approximately $253 million refreshing Charlotte-area stores and building new stores in Fort Mill, Lake Wylie and Kannapolis.

🤔 Alex has always been curious about how the glass car vending machine tower got past zoning.

🥰 McKenzie's past apartment used to have a near perfect view of the Carvana vending machine.

🏈 Ashley will be watching to see if the Panthers can make a statement in the NFC South today.

👟 Melissa, who edited this newsletter, is thinking she wants to go on an urban hike again soon.