Data centers to find home at former US Steel site in Falls – What it means for warehouses
There’s a change of plans for the third phase of NorthPoint Development’s Keystone Trade Center at the former U.S. Steel property in Falls Township.
Rather than sticking with their previously approved distribution facilities at 700 S. Port Road, NorthPoint is now shifting gears to construct massive data centers.
The company plans to build 10 different one or two-story structures across around 247 acres, eventually totaling more than 2 million square feet of what NorthPoint attorney Mike Meginniss called “a digital infrastructure campus.”
Building six from the prior phase of the NorthPoint project, at 1 Ben Fairless Drive, will also be modified to become a data center, along with an accessory structure and slight modification to access driveways.
A data center is a physical location where large amounts of data can be saved, stored and protected. Data centers also often house large servers and other computing equipment that is needed to access and process the data that is being stored.
The change in plans for this phase of the project will also result in a “significant reduction in traffic” compared to the distribution centers that were previously planned, according to NorthPoint’s vice president of development Jeremy Michael. Traffic has long been an issue surrounding the site.
The data centers will also require a shift in the types of jobs that will be needed on site including positions that have higher pay compared to warehouse roles, Michael said.
These changes were prompted by conversations with prospective lease-holders or end-users for the property that shifted discussions from warehousing and distribution toward creating these data centers, Meginniss said.
Meginniss said:
We think having this as a component of the KTC build is going to end up being a really, really nice complement and mix at the end of the day, both based on the traffic layout and the type of jobs that are created,
In response to resident concerns about the data centers causing potential energy issues for the community, Michael said NorthPoint is “working very closely with PECO” through the design review process, adding that this is one of the few locations where “surplus” power is available.
He said, adding that,
This is a really great location in terms of the infrastructure that’s already in place to support it,
“The power needed for the sixth building is “fed from different circuitry and a different voltage.”
The revised plans were approved unanimously by the Falls Township Board of Supervisors on March 24.
In total, Missouri-based NorthPoint intends to build 20 or more state-of-the-art industrial warehouse buildings, distribution centers and data centers totaling 10 million square feet, with the potential to expand to 15 million square feet.
Officials have said that once complete, the redevelopment will create as many as 14,000 new jobs.
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Data centers to find home at former US Steel site in Falls – What it means for warehouses, source
