$45.6 million!<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the price that a Texas-based company has agreed to pay for the 228-acre Dauphin Highlands Golf Course<\/a> in Swatara Township.<\/p>\n The Dauphin County General Authority voted on Wednesday to execute a purchase-sale agreement with Provident Realty\/Harrisburg I LLC, which plans to develop a data center on the site. Board chairperson Barbara Zemlock said in a news release that the golf course has consistently operated at a deficit, and that Provident\u2019s proposal is approximately 10 times higher than the recorded value of the land.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past year, we received multiple unsolicited offers to develop data centers on this property,\u201d she said. \u201cIssuing an RFP gave us the chance to fully evaluate the land\u2019s market value.\u201d<\/p>\n Provident Realty was selected from the six proposals submitted through a request-for-proposals process launched on February 19. Provident will conduct a due diligence process before the deal can be finalized, which involves seeking the approval of a number of governmental and other entities. The authority said Provident will determine if it can generate enough power for the data center by April 17, 2026, if it can\u2019t receive ample power, they could cancel the agreement.<\/p>\n The authority will continue operating Dauphin Highlands until the tentative date to close the sale, which is Dec. 31, 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is only the first step. Many conditions still need to be met before either side can finalize the transaction,\u201d Zemlock said.<\/p>\n Officials said in the news release that the deal is expected to deliver \u201csignificant benefits to Dauphin County residents, especially those in Swatara Township and the Central Dauphin School District,\u201d and it would allow the authority to pay off the golf course\u2019s $13 million debt.<\/p>\n As a property owned by a municipal entity, the golf course does not pay taxes, but if the deal is completed, it would be on the tax rolls for local, school district, county and state taxes. <\/p>\n Eric Epstein, General Authority board member, who is also on the Central Dauphin school board, said that approving the agreement wasn\u2019t an easy decision. He said he made his decision to vote in favor of the agreement after weighing the benefits for the community.<\/p>\n He said that additional funding for example, could help maintain full-day kindergarten, manage class sizes, and provide support to autistic, EL (English learner), and special needs students in the Central Dauphin School District, and that additional tax revenue for Dauphin County and Swatara Township could help fund human services.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing is certain about this, but if it happens, I see it as a way to create opportunities for our community,\u201d he said in a statement. <\/p>\n The authority has owned the golf course at 650 S. Harrisburg St. since 1993.<\/p>\n In April, Swatara Township commissioners voted in favor of a proposed amendment<\/a> that would allow data centers in the Mixed Use District, and rezoned a number of properties into the Mixed Use District. The golf course property was already zoned for mixed use.<\/p>\n In addition to Swatara Township, the property is also in Steelton.<\/p>\n Beyond the golf course, the authority also owns 19.11 acres at 1101 S. Front St. in Harrisburg, home to the Riverfront Office Center and PennDOT services, as well as five magisterial district judge offices.<\/p>\n Data centers are basically large computer server farms. A number of data center projects are planned for the midstate.<\/p>\n In addition to Swatara Township, data centers are also planned in Londonderry Township in Dauphin County; Peach Bottom and Fairview townships in York County; in Lancaster; and in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County.<\/p>\n A site in Steelton has also been mentioned as a possibility for a future data center.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"$45.6 million! That\u2019s the price that a Texas-based company has agreed to pay for the 228-acre Dauphin Highlands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-98572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}