Fiber firm Lightpath is converting a former prison in Pennsylvania into a network facility.

As reported by the York Dispatch, the company is redeveloping 314/319 Chestnut Street in York, York County, into an in-line amplifier (ILA) site. Work is reportedly already underway.

Lightpath submitted plans to the York City planning commission in June, with the plans going to the city council in July. A 7,700-square-foot, single-story utility building will go up next to the prison.

York County Prison, a six-story architectural marvel designed by B.F Willis, was built in 1906 and abandoned in 1979. It was acquired by local developers in 1982, with the local government looking to take over the site via eminent domain around 2014. A lawsuit over valuations followed.

United Fiber and Data acquired the prison in 2018. At the time, the company aimed to start work on developing the site into a data center in 2019 for a 2020 launch date. Work seemingly never started on the project.

Lightpath acquired United Fiber in 2024, taking over a 323-route-mile, high-fiber-count network between New York City and Ashburn, Virginia, as well as a 79-route-mile metro network in New York City and New Jersey. The deal closed in February of this year.

Around the same time, Lightpath announced plans to launch data centers at ILA sites across its network, with the first facilities deployed along the NYC-Ashburn network route.

ILAs serve to amplify optical signals along fiber routes. They are often placed in remote locations between data centers to boost signals.

Previously known as Optimum Lightpath, Lightpath has traditionally been a telecommunications provider focused on the New York area, but has expanded its footprint along the US east coast over the years and more recently into Arizona.

Altice USA owns a 50.01 percent interest in Lightpath, while Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners owns the remainder – buying its stake from Altice in 2020. Altice took over Lightpath as part of its 2015 acquisition of Cablevision. Cablevision formed Lightpath around 1991 as a competitive local exchange carrier.

The Dispatch reports that Starlink has a small ground station installation on a pad at the Chestnut Street property.