A Main Line developer’s plan to build more than 4.6 million square feet of data centers in a small section of King of Prussia is set for an in-depth review beginning next week.
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The Upper Merion Township planning commission is scheduled to discuss three of Brian O’Neill’s five proposed data centers at its next meeting on Wednesday, July 22, according to township manager Anthony Hamaday and a meeting agenda posted online.
After receiving an overview of the project at an initial planning commission meeting in May, the township has “done an official review and we have forwarded our comments to the applicant,” Hamaday said. The plans “have been revised and sent back.”
Next, Hamaday said, the planning commission will dive into the nitty gritty, scrutinizing whether the project complies with township code.
Next Wednesday, they will review the proposed 2 million-square-foot data center at the Renaissance Boulevard office park; the proposed 370,000-square-foot data center at the current site of a daycare at 3200 Horizon Drive; and the proposed 188,000-square-foot data center at an office and lab building on a remediated Superfund site at 2100 Renaissance Blvd.
The other two proposed data centers are set to be reviewed at a meeting on Aug. 12, Hamaday said Tuesday.
At the May meeting, O’Neill, whose MLP Ventures is behind the proposal, called it “an opportunity to change the world for the better” through AI-powered biotech that would complement his existing life-sciences complex, Discovery Labs. He said most of the centers would be leased to tenants, but has not specified which ones.
Many area residents have rallied against the centers, with some displaying bright orange lawn signs that read: “Five data centers, 100 feet from here. Absolutely not!” Opponents have cited concerns about the potential for noise, light, and other pollution, as well as the general disruption to their daily lives.
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Hundreds of people packed the May meeting. Hamaday said the forthcoming ones would be moved to the Upper Merion Area Middle School to accommodate expected crowds. They will also be broadcast live, potentially on the local TV channel, he said, and streamed on Zoom.
Upper Merion Township isn’t the only place where O’Neill has set his sights.
Across the Schuylkill, on the outskirts of Conshohocken, the developer wants to build another 2-million-square-foot AI data center at the site of the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill. He has said the center would be operated by a tenant related to the life sciences.
He recently resubmitted a plan to Plymouth Township, and a procedural zoning hearing board meeting was held last month.
A similar proposal was abruptly withdrawn in the fall due to legal issues over the sale agreement.
The next meeting about the Conshohocken-area project is at Colonial Middle School and via livestream on the township’s YouTube.
Both the Conshohocken-area and King of Prussia plans would require multiple recommendations and approvals before construction could begin.
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