{"id":293997,"date":"2026-09-25T20:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T20:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293997\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T20:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T20:58:10","slug":"developer-applies-for-200000-square-foot-data-center-in-jessup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293997\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer applies for 200,000-square-foot data center in Jessup"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Maryland-based data center developer wants to expand its footprint in the Midvalley, beginning with a former healthcare administration site in the Jessup section of the Valley View Business Park.\n<\/p>\n

DBT-Data<\/a> filed a nearly 500-page conditional use application in Jessup dated Sept. 4 to build a single-story, approximately 200,000-square-foot data center along Lakeview Drive and Archbald Heights Road in the upper section of the industrial park that spans Archbald and Jessup, according to a copy of the application obtained via a Right to Know Law request. The 30-foot-tall data center, if approved by Jessup council, would be at the location of the former TMG Health\/Cognizant building, which crews demolished in December 2023<\/a> \u2014 11 years after it opened.\n<\/p>\n

Although DBT applied for only one data center so far, it has multiple memorandums in place with the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Company, or SLIBCO, which is the development arm of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, to acquire hundreds of additional acres in Jessup and Archbald.\n<\/p>\n

DBT\u2019s Jessup data center would rely on 26 backup generators while requiring 60 megawatts of electricity and an average of 3,200 gallons of water per day, peaking at 6,400 gallons.\n<\/p>\n

The generators would each produce about 2.5 megawatts and would have estimated 3,000-gallon fuel tanks to provide roughly 48 hours of power, totaling 78,000 gallons of diesel stored on-site, according to the application. They would adhere to Tier 4 emissions standards \u2014 the most stringent classification.\n<\/p>\n

The site would also have nearly 120,000 square feet of equipment yards and a 38,500-square-foot substation built across the 39-acre parcel. About 18 acres will not be used for data center development, according to the plans.\n<\/p>\n

Operating as DBT-Data Lackawanna One LLC, 4520 East West Highway, Suite 725, Bethesda, Maryland, the developer is under agreement to buy the property from SLIBCO, which developed the Valley View Business Park. SLIBCO previously sold the land at 25 Lakeview Drive for the TMG Health development before reacquiring it in May 2024.\n<\/p>\n

DBT\u2019s data center is now the eighth<\/a> proposed in Jessup. West Conshohocken-based Breaker Street Associates LLC, a company tied to Catalyst Commercial Development LLC, is currently challenging Jessup in court in a bid to develop six data centers along Breaker Street near Hill Street; Sunnyside Road Associates LLC, a company affiliated with Catalyst, also proposes a single data center off Sunnyside Road near Alberigi Drive next to the Lackawanna Energy Center natural gas power plant. That project is also tied up in litigation.<\/p>\n

The DBT site borders Archbald, which has become Lackawanna County\u2019s data center hotspot with 51 buildings proposed across six projects. Another developer, PNK Group, plans to build<\/a> at least two more data centers near DBT in Archbald. Though the New York City-based PNK Group has yet to apply in Archbald, it purchased multiple parcels and discussed plans for data centers.<\/p>\n

Although DBT has so far applied for only one data center, it has multiple memorandums in place with SLIBCO, using the limited liability companies DBT-Data Lackawanna One, Two, Three and Four.\n<\/p>\n

In addition to the TMG Health site, DBT is under agreement with SLIBCO for:<\/p>\n

\u2022 DBT-Data Lackawanna Two \u2014 56 acres along Archbald Heights Road west of Cardinal Glass and just over 49 acres north of the Chewy warehouse, totaling about 105 acres in Archbald and Jessup.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u2022 DBT-Data Lackawanna Three \u2014 96 acres east of Chewy off Oak Ridge Way in Archbald.\n<\/p>\n

\u2022 DBT-Data Lackawanna Four \u2014 Nearly 154 acres east of the Casey Highway in Archbald and Jessup opposite the PEI Power Park.\n<\/p>\n

DBT and SLIBCO recorded the memorandums with the county recorder of deeds between February and April.\n<\/p>\n

About DBT<\/p>\n

DBT\u2019s conditional-use narrative attempts to distance the project from speculative developers while emphasizing its local ties. David Tolson, a Wayne County native, leads DBT, according to the narrative, which touts 20-plus years of data center experience nationally, including in Ohio and Virginia.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Applicant is not a speculative developer seeking to capitalize on current market interest in data center development,\u201d DBT wrote in its application. \u201cRather, the Applicant brings a longstanding, proven track record of responsible development in this specific industry, and it intends to bring that same experience and standard of care to the Borough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The application notes that DBT co-hosted and participated in a local data center tour to Loudoun County, Virginia, also known as \u201cData Center Alley\u201d due to its concentration of data centers. The tour<\/a> in December took local officials and journalists to Loudoun County for a day.\n<\/p>\n

Attorney Jeffrey Wilhelm of Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith LLP represents DBT in its application, along with attorney Neal M. Thatcher of Myers Brier Kelly LLP in Scranton. Wilhelm also represents Project Green Mountain<\/a> in Archbald; other attorneys from Reed Smith represent the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus<\/a> in Archbald. Wildcat Ridge\u2019s attorneys from Reed Smith attempted<\/a> to force the removal of all seven<\/a> Archbald council members from deciding on the data center campus over allegations of bias.\n<\/p>\n

How it stacks up<\/p>\n

Although DBT\u2019s footprint is one of the largest individual data centers in Lackawanna County, it is the shortest proposed data center at 30 feet tall. Other campuses, like Wildcat Ridge above Business Route 6 in Archbald, propose two-story, 80-foot-tall, 202,340-square-foot buildings. The single-largest proposed data center, based on footprint, is Project Boson<\/a> on Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald at nearly 620,000 square feet.\n<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the Valley View Business Park, Sunnyside Road Associates of West Conshohocken is currently suing Jessup<\/a> after the borough zoning hearing board denied its request to exceed Jessup\u2019s height restrictions by 20 feet in order to build a 70-foot-tall data center.\n<\/p>\n

DBT\u2019s water and electricity demands also represent some of the lowest requests in Lackawanna County across more than a dozen projects and upwards of 90 proposed data centers.\n<\/p>\n

The data center will use a closed-loop cooling system with 24 air-cooled chillers, meaning water or another coolant recirculates through the computer hardware without being evaporated off. Chillers are essentially the HVAC equipment that keeps the coolant cold. The system would not use continuous water, according to the conditional use application, and would instead only be required to initially fill the system and for infrequent maintenance.<\/p>\n

In comparison to DBT\u2019s daily average of 3,200 gallons per day with a peak of 6,400 gallons, Wildcat Ridge<\/a>, which has the largest water demands in the county, proposes to use a daily average of 598,000 gallons per day, peaking at just over 3.3 million gallons per day during the hottest summer weather.\n<\/p>\n

Likewise, at 60 megawatts of electricity, DBT\u2019s data center has some of the lowest individual electricity demands. Similarly, Project Gravity\u2019s<\/a> seven data centers along Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald propose to use between 71.4 and 77 megawatts per building, according to a March 31 filing with the county recorder of deeds. The North Pocono-area Project Gold<\/a> has the highest power demands at 2,200 megawatts, or 2.2 gigawatts, for six data centers in Clifton and Covington townships, followed by Wildcat Ridge at 1.6 gigawatts.\n<\/p>\n

The Lackawanna Energy Center in Jessup produces just shy of 1,500 megawatts.\n<\/p>\n

DBT would receive its electricity from PPL Electric Utilities and its water from Pennsylvania American Water, and it would discharge to the Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority, according to the application.\n<\/p>\n

About the site<\/p>\n

DBT\u2019s application addresses one of the core arguments<\/a> used against data centers at public hearings in neighboring Archbald \u2014 impacts on surrounding residential neighborhoods. Both Jessup and Archbald have very similar zoning ordinances written by the same company. In Archbald, among their arguments, data center opponents have focused on requirements for conditional uses and special exceptions that dictate a \u201cproposed use shall not substantially negatively change the character of any surrounding residential neighborhood.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

DBT describes the nearby properties in the industrial park, including the Lackawanna Energy Center, Cardinal Glass and Chewy, noting the park does not include any residential areas or neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

The nearest residential area is more than 3,800 feet west in Jessup\u2019s Winton section, according to DBT.\n<\/p>\n

It replaces the three-story, 50,500-square-foot TMG Health building, which began construction in 2011, according to the application. It was torn down 12 years later.<\/p>\n

The site of DBT\u2019s proposed data center falls into Jessup\u2019s \u201cEnergy & Information Technology Overlay,\u201d which the borough created last year when it amended its zoning<\/a> to better address data centers.<\/p>\n

Midvalley residents have largely advocated to limit data centers to industrial land across the Casey Highway and away from neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

The overlay regulates data centers as conditional uses across industrial land east of the Casey Highway, requiring DBT represenatives to attend public hearings to testify about how it meets the conditions established by the borough.<\/p>\n

When Jessup schedules the public hearing, affected residents or their attorneys will have the opportunity to request party status, allowing them to cross-examine any witnesses presented by DBT. When DBT concludes its testimony, those parties can present their own evidence<\/a> about the project.<\/p>\n

Public hearings also accept public comment, and when the proceedings conclude, council will decide whether to approve the data center.
\n\"AA Maryland-based data developer applied with Jessup to build a 200,000-square-foot data center at the former TMG Health site in the Valley View Business Park. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"AA Maryland-based data developer applied with Jessup to build a 200,000-square-foot data center at the former TMG Health site in the Valley View Business Park. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"AA Maryland-based data developer applied with Jessup to build a 200,000-square-foot data center at the former TMG Health site in the Valley View Business Park. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Maryland-based data center developer wants to expand its footprint in the Midvalley, beginning with a former healthcare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2117,2116,2119,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-293997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-archbald","tag-data-centers","tag-jessup","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}