Developers for a proposed South Allentown data center revealed updated plans for the 2401 Emmaus Ave. facility, but final approval for the project rests on the outcome of a pending legal challenge to the project.

Allentown planners on Tuesday heard the developers, for the second time, make their case for the nearly 250,000-square-foot data center. They made several changes to the data center plans that they vowed would help curb any negative impacts on the neighborhood like excessive noise and pollution.

Applicants for the development also announced that New York City data center company Keel Infrastructure would operate the building after it is constructed.

Keel would rent space in the data center to a to-be-determined end user technology company like Google or Amazon, according to Chief Operating Officer Liam Wilson.

The planning commission in 2022 approved a 224,000-square-foot warehouse on the Emmaus Avenue site. Developers broke ground in 2024, but the building has been vacant since then. Quantm Group LLC has applied for a 23,342-square-foot addition to the building in order to convert it into a 75-megawatt data center.

The data center, once operational, would employ around 66 people.

Developers first presented their plans to the Allentown Planning Commission in June: at the time, the city’s planning department declined to recommend approving the project due to its concerns about “job creation, land efficiency and compatibility with nearby residential uses.”

The data center applicants updated the proposal to address the city’s concerns.

Those updates include relocating a planned PPL substation to the western side of the building instead of the very front, constructing a “sound attenuation wall” that would mitigate noise from generators and cooling equipment, and offering legally binding restrictive covenants that limit the amount of noise and pollution the facility may create.

The data center would result in less truck traffic, less water use and more tax revenue for the city than the previously approved warehouse, bringing in around $4 million annually in revenue if approved, developers said.

“This is a real asset, both to your community and to the general public,” Quantm co-founder Anthony Maras said.

Developers also submitted studies to the city indicating that it would comply with noise regulations and would not significantly harm air quality or the surrounding natural environment.

But the project’s approval depends on the outcome of a zoning hearing board challenge.

Camelot for Children, a nonprofit organization near where the center is proposed that helps chronically and terminally ill children, has filed a legal appeal seeking to overturn the city’s zoning decision that the data center would be a by-right use for the site, allowing the center to move forward in the city’s review process.

A hearing on the challenge was originally scheduled for Aug. 31 but has been postponed to a to-be-determined date at the request of both Camelot and the developer, according to Allentown zoners.

Because of that pending legal challenge, planning commissioners did not vote on the data center plans. Instead, they posed questions to the developer, indicating their still-present concerns about the data center’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

Planning Commissioner Erich Hornung called on the developer to enclose both the substation and generators in a building to minimize noise, and use the building’s large, flat roof for solar panels that could help power the data center.

“I understand that sustainability like wind and solar will not cover your gigantic 75 megawatts, which is enormous even for this size, quite frankly, but to not have a significant sustainable component to this is just — I can’t understand why,” Hornung said.

Maras said that the responsibility to provide sustainable energy should rest with the grid operator providing power to the Emmaus Avenue project, which is PPL. He said project engineers would evaluate whether enclosing the generators and cooling equipment is feasible.

During public comment, several neighbors of the project said they remain concerned about its impact on noise, air pollution and the environment, despite the developers’ assurances.

“For only 60-something jobs, at the risk of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of residents, I’m sorry, the risk isn’t worth the reward for this,” Allentown resident Matt Chua said.

Keel’s Wilson, in his remarks to the planning commission, said the proposed data center would be an “incredible opportunity” for the Allentown area and vowed to craft a legally binding community benefit agreement in tandem with the project.

Keel Infrastructure has also proposed four data center buildings totaling 400,000 square feet in Nesquehoning, Carbon County. As part of a community outreach effort, Keel made a $1 million investment in Panther Valley School District student programs

Developers plan to return to the planning commission in October for final approval of the project, pending the zoning appeal’s outcome. Keel Infrastructure and Quantm will announce plans for community forums and town halls to hear residents’ concerns on the project before the October planning commission meeting, Maras said.

Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.