According to DCD, chemical firm Air Products is proposing a massive 2.6 million square foot data center campus on the site of its former headquarters in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania. The 194-acre project along Hamilton Boulevard and Cetronia Road would consist of three buildings ranging from 435,600 to 1.23 million square feet each. The company originally built its headquarters on this farmland site in the mid-1950s before moving to a new location just a mile away in 2021. Interestingly, the site was previously approved for warehouse development with Prologis in 2023, and currently houses chemical companies Evonik and Intertek. Local officials are now updating zoning ordinances specifically to accommodate data centers as Pennsylvania experiences unprecedented growth in this sector.
From Chemical Plants to Server Farms
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just another warehouse conversion. We’re watching Pennsylvania’s industrial landscape fundamentally transform before our eyes. Air Products, a company that literally deals in industrial gases and chemicals, is now trying to get into the data center business. That’s quite the pivot. The site has already gone from farmland to chemical headquarters to… potentially one of the largest data center campuses in the region. It makes you wonder – do these industrial companies really understand the data center business, or are they just capitalizing on hot real estate?
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Pennsylvania’s Data Center Gold Rush
The numbers here are absolutely staggering. A DC Byte report from September showed Pennsylvania’s data center market jumping from 231MW of total IT load in 2021 to around 7.8GW planned for 2025. That’s exponential growth by any measure. Basically, Pennsylvania went from being a relative data center backwater to one of the hottest markets in the country almost overnight.
This explosion didn’t happen in a vacuum. Back in July, various firms pledged to invest $90 billion in the state’s digital infrastructure after a summit attended by President Donald Trump. Now we’re seeing the tangible results – massive projects like this Air Products conversion popping up across the state. But here’s my question: can Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and power grid actually support this much capacity this quickly?
The Zoning Catch-Up Game
What’s particularly telling is that Upper Macungie Township is now scrambling to update its zoning ordinance to include regulations for data centers. They’re literally writing the rulebook as these projects come in. That tells you everything about how sudden and massive this shift has been. Local governments that were used to dealing with warehouses and manufacturing plants are now facing hyperscale data center proposals they never anticipated.
It’s a classic case of technology outpacing regulation. And while Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have long been Pennsylvania’s established data center hubs, we’re now seeing development spread to areas like Lehigh County that weren’t even on the radar a few years ago. The AI boom is clearly driving this – companies are desperate to secure capacity wherever they can find it, even if it means converting former chemical company headquarters.
The Hidden Challenges of Industrial Conversions
Don’t get me wrong – repurposing existing industrial sites sounds great in theory. But converting a chemical company’s former headquarters into a hyperscale data center isn’t as simple as it might appear. These sites come with legacy infrastructure, potential environmental concerns, and power delivery challenges that greenfield sites don’t face.
Remember – this site was originally planned for warehouse development. Data centers have completely different requirements when it comes to power density, cooling, and connectivity. The fact that they’re pivoting from warehouses to data centers suggests the economics have shifted dramatically. But I wonder if the local community and infrastructure are truly prepared for the power and water demands of a 2.6 million square foot data center campus. That’s not a small ask for any municipality, let alone one that’s literally writing its data center regulations as we speak.
