According to DCD, a mystery company operating as Archbald I LLC filed two zoning permit applications on October 22 to build a massive data center complex in Archbald, Pennsylvania. The proposal calls for 22 buildings totaling 3.3 million square feet across two campuses—one with 18 buildings on 410 acres north of Staback Park, and another with 4 buildings on 66 acres near the Archbald-Jermyn border. Each building would be approximately 150,000 square feet, adding to an existing pipeline of data center projects in Lackawanna County. This comes just after the borough council failed to pass an ordinance that would have regulated where data centers could be built, following opposition from local residents.
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<h2 id="archbald-data-center-boom”>The Quiet Data Center Boom
Here’s the thing about Archbald—this isn’t exactly Northern Virginia. We’re talking about a small Pennsylvania borough that suddenly finds itself at the center of a data center gold rush. And it’s happening fast. Between this new proposal and existing projects like Project Boson and Project Gravity, this area could soon have nearly 4.7 million square feet of data center space across 29 buildings.
That’s an insane amount of infrastructure for a community that wasn’t on anyone’s data center radar until recently. So what’s driving this? The applications don’t say, but we can guess. Cheap land, available power, and proximity to major northeastern markets make Pennsylvania increasingly attractive. Basically, when Northern Virginia gets too expensive and constrained, developers start looking for the next frontier.
<h2 id="mystery-company-concerns”>The Mystery Company Problem
Nobody knows who’s behind Archbald I LLC. And that should raise some eyebrows. When a shell company proposes building 3.3 million square feet of critical infrastructure, communities have a right to ask questions. Who’s going to operate these facilities? What’s their track record? How much power and water will they consume?
Look, data centers bring tax revenue and jobs, but they also bring massive energy demands, noise pollution, and strain on local infrastructure. Residents who spoke against the failed data center ordinance clearly have concerns. Can you blame them? A mystery developer dropping plans for 22 buildings isn’t exactly transparent community engagement.
A Regulatory Void
The timing here is fascinating. This application comes right after the borough council failed to pass data center regulations in October. The motion didn’t even get a second, so it never came to a vote. Now developers are rushing in while the regulatory environment is wide open.
This creates a real dilemma for Archbald. On one hand, they want the economic development. On the other, they’re seeing their landscape transformed without clear rules about where and how these massive facilities should be built. It’s the classic boomtown problem—growth happens so fast that planning can’t keep up.
What Comes Next?
The real question is whether Archbald can handle this scale of development. We’re not just talking about a couple buildings—this would fundamentally change the character of the area. And with other nearby projects in Jessup and Blakely (though that one was withdrawn), Lackawanna County is becoming Pennsylvania’s unexpected data center corridor.
Communities facing these rapid transformations need to ask hard questions about infrastructure, environmental impact, and long-term planning. The Scranton Times-Tribune notes that locals wanted more restrictions, not fewer. Now they’re facing their largest proposal yet from a company that won’t even reveal its identity. That’s a tough position for any community to be in.
