Plans to develop a data center at the site of a former power station in Springdale, Pennsylvania, have hit delays.

Another data center could potentially be coming to the same county in nearby Stowe Township, and several other projects are being proposed elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

Officials stall decision on Springdale data center

Outside Pittsburgh in Springdale, plans for a data center at the site of a former power station have been put on ice.

The Springdale planning commission has delayed a decision on making a recommendation about the project to the city council. The commission said they wanted more time for studies and for resident comments.

A subsequent public meeting about the project saw a number of residents speak out against the proposals. A Change.org petition against the project has secured more than 300 signatures at time of writing.

First detailed in May, Allegheny DC Property Co. is planning to develop a 565,000 sq ft (52,490 sqm) 180MW data center and a 200,000 sq ft (18,580 sqm) building for cooling and facility management on 47-acre site of the former Cheswick power plant in Allegheny County.

Springdale’s planning commission is next due to meet on October 27, where it could make a recommendation to the city council to approve or reject the proposals.

The 565MW coal power plant was retired in 2022, with demolition and clean-up having got underway in March following the removal of the old boiler house.

Charah Environmental Redevelopment Group, the Louisville-based company that acquired the property in 2022, previously confirmed that the land is under contract with a major international data center developer.

Allegheny DC is reportedly an affiliate of US investment firm Davidson Kempner.

In Europe, Davidson Kempner has backed Start Campus’ development in Sines, Portugal, as well as Irish developer Echelon. It has also invested in US operator PointOne Data Centers, which is developing several sites in Virginia.

Stowe Township to get a data center?

In nearby Stowe Township, also in Allegheny County, another data center could be developed on a former railcar plant site.

Stowe Township commissioner Cheryl McDermott recently confirmed that SunCap Industries, which is developing the former Pressed Steel Car Company McKees Rocks Works Plant, wants to build a data center.

Details on the scope of the planned data center weren’t shared.

The township board is due to meet in November, where they could discuss the project further.

Nichol Avenue McKees Rocks LLC was granted $6 million earlier this year to assist with the phase two development of a distribution and logistics park on a 72-acre brownfield works plant, as part of the Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (PA SITES) initiative to build more shovel-ready industrial sites across the state.

The property was owned by McKees Rocks Industrial Enterprise and sold to SunCap Industries in 2023.

Founded in 2009, SunCap Property Group is a commercial real estate development and investment firm. The company specializes in developing single-tenant build-to-suit facilities, industrial warehouse and distribution facilities, and multifamily communities.

Pennsylvania gets its moment

Pennsylvania, not traditionally a major data center market, has seen gigawatts of new capacity proposed in recent months as companies look to secure capacity for AI build-outs.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have long been Pennsylvania’s two main data center hubs, but new developments are being proposed across the state

A report published by DC Byte in September suggested the Keystone State’s data center market has grown exponentially, jumping from 231MW of total IT load in 2021 to around 7.8GW in 2025.

Amazon buys land in Schuylkill County

Earlier this year, Amazon Data Services acquired a 350-acre parcel of land in Pennsylvania’s Kline Township, Schuylkill County, for $178 million.

The area, known as Devil’s Mountain, was previously due to house a 3.75 million sq ft (348,300 sqm) warehouse development for Brewster Land Co.

While Amazon’s plans are unclear at this point, its Amazon Data Services unit is usually the affiliate through which the cloud and eCommerce giant conducts its data center affairs.

Amazon is reportedly evaluating plans for the site and will present its plans at a later date, according to a letter from the company to local officials.

Ealier this year Amazon announced plans to invest $20 billion in data center infrastructure in Pennsylvania.

NorthPoint eyes Carbon County

In Pennsylvania’s Carbon County’s Packer and Banks townships are mulling a potential data center development.

NorthPoint is planning to develop on 1,400 acres in the area for data center development. Full details of the planned project haven’t been shared.

Two separate Change.org petitions have been launched against the propsals, which have secured around 900 signatures in total. Opposition groups Save Carbon County and the Greenfire Coalition have spoken out against the development.

Another proposed data center project nearby, in Carbon County’s Penn Forest Township, is seeking to develop on 750 acres between Route 902 and Maury Road. Full details about the project’s plans haven’t been shared. Save Carbon County is against the project.

Developers look to West Hazleton

In West Hazleton, land behind Valmont Shopping Plaza is being marketed as a potential data center site.

The site in Luzerne County, owned by One Trinity Real Estate Investments, is zoned for light industry, and previously received approval to construct a 600,000 sq ft (55,741 sqm) warehouse building. Site plans suggest the site could support one building.

The company was denied rezoning request for a data center on the site due to local zoning codes not allowing data centers as a specified use.

Northpoint is planning a large-scale data center campus in Luzerne County that could total 15 buildings across more than 1,200 acres in Hazle Township’s Humboldt North Industrial Park.

Amazon also has a data center in the county in Salem Township, next to the Susquehanna nuclear power station, and is planning to expand the site into a 15-building campus.