Developer Sentinel Data Centers has said that it may build a larger data center if local authorities in East Whiteland, Pennsylvania, do not approve an amended plan for a smaller facility soon. 

Sentinel’s current plan — to build two data center buildings spanning 887,000 sq ft (82,404 sqm) at the south side of Swedesford Road near the Township boundary with West Whiteland — is almost half the size of the proposed facility’s previous iteration. This plan was presented to the East Whiteland Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 14.

The previous iteration of the plan called for the construction of a 1,600,000 sq ft (149,000 sqm) campus called Project Forge, but the strength of opposition towards this plan led the developer to suggest a downsizing. 

But CEO Josh Rabina, speaking to the Board of Supervisors, said that “if this approval process is delayed or further appeals are filed... we will simply have no choice but to continue building the current plan,” reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rabina is referring to the fact that the land parcel, which previously belonged to the Foote Mineral Co. Superfund Site, has already been zoned for the construction of a data center with a maximum size of 1,860,000 sq ft (173,000 sqm), meaning the developers only need approval for their development plans.

Developers Fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty (1547) and Green Fig Land Company have been planning to build a campus on the land parcel since 2022, and Sentinel joined the project in 2024, according to a report by The Philadelphia Inquirer — hence why the planning application has been submitted by Sentinel Green Fig, LLC.

East Whiteland Township is located northwest of Philadelphia and slightly west of King of Prussia. It is not a data center hotspot. 

Most of Pennsylvania’s data centers are clustered around Pittsburgh.