US operator Aligned has reportedly bought more land in Ohio for a possible data center development.

First reported by the Coshocton Tribune, Aligned has acquired a portion of the Conesville Industrial Park outside Coshocton. The site, in Coshocton County, was sold by the Frontier Group of Companies (FGC).

Exact details of how much land has been acquired and what development Aligned is planning haven’t been shared.

Aligned didn’t provide comment to the Tribute on the news. DCD reached out to the operator and FGC for more information; Aligned declined to comment.

Coshocton is in central Ohio, approximately 63 miles (101 km) northeast of Columbus.

Formerly a 2GW coal power plant operated by American Electric Power, the site ceased operations in 2020 after more than 60 years. FGC acquired the plant in 2020, turning it into a 2,500-acre industrial park. On the Frontier website, the company lists one 200-acre parcel suitable for data center processing at the Conesville park as no longer available.

“Data centers are the backbone of the digital age, providing the infrastructure that enables telehealth, distance learning, social media, entertainment, and countless online applications and services related to business, government, and healthcare,” Tiffany Swigert, executive director of the Coshocton Port Authority, told the Tribune. “This development is further validation that Coshocton is poised to prosper in this new economy.”

Founded in 2001, Frontier is a brownfield development company, specializing in acquiring industrial facilities and brownfield sites for reuse.

Aligned has campuses in Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Phoenix, Arizona; and Northern Virginia. The company has further sites in development in Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia.

The company’s existing in-development site in Ohio is located further north outside Sandusky, between Toledo and Cleveland. The company announced it had acquired a 129-acre land parcel in Perkins Township, Erie County, in September 2023, and broke ground on the site in May 2024.

At full build-out, the Sandusky campus will host four buildings. Aligned’s website says the NEO-01 data center will total 96MW across 200,000 sq ft (18,580 sqm). The acquired property was a former automotive equipment manufacturing facility originally built by New Departure (later merged with General Motors) around 1947.

The company has also previously acquired another 90-acres of land in Ohio in Pataskala, a city in Licking County located east of Columbus and south of New Albany. It is yet to comment on any development plans there.