Plans for a data center in Pennsylvania have been scrapped by the developer.

The proposal would have seen developer Data Centric LLC purchase a 37-acre land parcel for $2.7m at the Great Stream Commons industrial park in Union County, located north of Harrisburg.

In quotes reported by The Daily Item, planning and economic development director for Union County, Shawn McLaughlin, said: “We received an official termination notice from the data center at Great Stream Commons. They have pulled out of the deal.

“They are stating that in their sole and absolute discretion, they have decided not to proceed with the acquisition of the property as per the executed agreement. Because it was within the contingency period, they can do that, and do not lose their initial deposit held in escrow.”

The agreement, backed by real estate and investment firm KSR Capital, was signed in May and provided for a 180-day due diligence period with $100,000 held in escrow.

McLaughlin added that it was common for developers to back out of projects because of utility constraints: “It is challenging to land any project with significant infrastructure demands in rural Pennsylvania because it is rare for a development site to have all the necessary utilities at the capacity the industrial user needs.”

Union County is not a data center hotspot. Most of Pennsylvania's data centers are located around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Operators in the state include Iron Mountain, EdgeConneX, Ark, DataBank, Equinix, and 365 Data Centers, among others.

Little information about New York City-based Data Centric LLC is available. It is unclear whether the company currently operates or still intends to operate a data center.