Several new data center projects are being proposed in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

A local junkyard has been acquired and is set to be developed into a data center campus totaling around 900,000 sq ft. Another project from the same developer is in the works a few miles south.

Separately, a local real estate firm is planning a 600MW campus next to a local gas power plant in the area.

The projects are the latest in a series of data center projects in the county, potentially totaling gigawatts of capacity.

Junkyard acquired, set for data center development

First reported by the Times-Tribune, PDC Realty LLC acquired the Highway Auto Parts auto salvage yard on Eynon Jermyn Road for $1.575 million, totaling about 83.5 acres across 17 parcels.

Local businessman Jim Marzolino is affiliated with PDC Realty. He filed a zoning permit application with Archbald for the site in April for a data center campus known as the Archbald Data & Energy Center.

The campus would see three two-story data centers developed, spanning a total of 293,244 sq ft (27, 243 sqm) each, as well as at least one substation.

Highway Auto is still currently open, but Marzolino told the Times-Tribune the removal of the junk cars is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, and buildings will be demolished in the first quarter of 2026.

More data centers come for Archbald

Archbald is a borough in Lackawanna County, northeast Pennsylvania. Not traditionally known as a major data center hotspot, Pennsylvania is seeing a large number of projects being proposed, with several in the Archbald/Lackawanna County area.

The Times-Tribune notes Marzolino is also involved with another, separate data center project down the road from the junkyard, known as Project Gravity. He is also reportedly involved in a newly proposed data center campus a few miles south of the Eynon Jermyn Road projects in Blakely, off Business Route 6 and Terrace Drive.

Marzolino and businessman Alpesh “Al” Patel – who owns the Dunmore-based Al’s Quick Stop convenience store chain – propose constructing a four-building data center campus. The pair filed for a rezoning of the land for an AI data center campus with the Blakely Borough planning commission earlier this month. The site could reportedly total 1.5GW, Marzolino told the Times-Tribune.

Patel reportedly owns about 44 acres of the site in Blakely, while the Marzolino-affiliated Two Up Realty LLC and Route 6 Land Development Corp. own around 77 acres between them.

Marzolino told the Times-Tribune his interest in data centers stems from a Bitcoin mining hobby. After starting to research data centers some three years ago, he is now working with global commercial real estate firm Avison Young and has a team of about 20 people in-house working on finding land, developing, planning, and engineering.

Catalyst eyes campus in PA

The Times-Tribune has also posted about another proposed data center campus a few miles south of Archbald, adjacent to the Lackawanna Energy Center in Jessup.

Breaker Street Associates LLC submitted a zoning application in June to develop 1.07 million sq ft (99,406 sqm) of data centers across 131 acres on the south side of Breaker Street between Hill Street and the Casey Highway. The 600MW campus could total six buildings.

Founded in 2012, US real estate firm Catalyst Commercial Development LLC develops industrial and commercial real estate in Pennsylvania.

Pompey Coal Company reportedly owns the land. The company sold just over 65 acres to Chicago-based Invenergy for $3.8 million in 2016 for the construction of the 1.5GW gas-fired Lackawanna Energy Center power plant.

Jessup is looking to amend its zoning laws to create a technology overlay district – though zoning rights for already-filed projects would be grandfathered in.

Lackawanna County: a new data center hotspot in PA?

The three new projects are the latest in a series of large new campuses being proposed in Lackawanna County.

Marzolino’s Project Gravity could see up to six two-story buildings and two on-site substations developed. The buildings would span 135,000 sq ft (12,540 sqm) per floor, suggesting 1.62 million sq ft (150,500 sqm) of floor space across the whole campus. Western Hospitality Partners – a company looking at multiple data center developments across the US – is linked to that project.

Archbald has also recently seen plans filed for a data center campus known as the Wildcat Ridge AI Data Center Campus. That project is expected to span around 17.2 million sq ft (1.6 million sqm), featuring 14 three-story data centers.

Elsewhere in Lackawanna County, 1778 Rich Pike LLC is aiming to develop a 1.5GW, 1,000-acre campus across Clifton and Covington townships. Update: Fox has previously linked the affiliate behind the project to NE Edge, but the company has told DCD that isn't the case and claims of any such link is "erroneous."

State Rep. Kyle Mullins, whose district includes Archbald, Blakely, and Jessup, last week announced on Facebook, he is working on legislation that would require data centers to be “constructed to the highest environmental and community standards.”

“If any data center is ever approved, communities must be protected,” he said.