The Wildcat Ridge Data Center campus is getting land in Archbald

Two New York companies have secured nearly 500 acres above Archbald’s Eynon and Sturges subdivisions for the largest data center planned.

Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management LLC filed an application with Archbald in December for the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus, which proposes to build 14 two-story data centers, each reaching a height of 80 feet with a 202,340-square-foot area, across 574.2 acres along Business Route 6, Wildcat7 and Route 24. The two companies A New York-based limited liability company of the same name — one directly linked to Cornell Realty Management — acquired 495 acres of the proposed campus on March 20, according to a sale of the property reported Thursday and a sales agreement reported Monday with the Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Office.

The data center campus has not been approved by the Archbald Borough Council, which plans to hold its third public hearing on the project in April.

Wildcat Ridge became Lackawanna County’s first data center when representatives approached Archbald in January 2025 during a council work session. The campus is one of six data center projects in Archbald and one of at least a dozen throughout Lackawanna County.

It has become notorious for its water and electricity requirements. The campus can use more than 3.3 million gallons of water per day during the hottest weather while requiring 1.6 gigawatts, or 1,600 megawatts, of electricity to power its data centers. By comparison, the Lackawanna Energy Center’s natural gas-fired power plant in Jessup produces 1,485 megawatts.

The campus can have up to 41 diesel generators in the data center, each with a 2,000-liter fuel tank, a total of 574 generators and 1,148,000 liters of diesel fuel, according to testimony from project representatives during public hearings this year. The projects also require two user stations and a PPL Electric Utilities switchyard. The Switchyard is part of PPL’s ​​major infrastructure project in the heart of Archbald.

In addition to data centers, Cornell plans to build 316,000 square feet of commercial space, including a 50,000-square-foot grocery store and 1,800 feet of retail space; two four-story, 85,000-square-foot buildings, one mixed-use and one office; and a 96,000-square-foot parking lot with about 360 spaces. During a public hearing on the development in January, the campus project manager said the grocery store is “Trader Joe’s, or something like that.”

The site was originally planned for 1,930 multi-family housing units, 120 residential units and 1.2 million square feet of building space, filling the same space as the data center.

On March 20, the two companies acquired most of the land needed for the campus.

Pine Hill Dream Inc., which claims to have an office in Eynon while using an address in New York, bought 245 acres from Pine Line Inc. of Eynon for $3.2 million, according to a property sale reported Thursday. Pine Line and Pine Hill Dream entered into an agreement to purchase the property last year on May 16, which was reported to the county on May 21.

The 245 acres is the upper portion of the campus and extends from the Blakely border near PPL’s ​​existing Lackawanna Substation, continuing east over Business Route 6. Jeffrey and Alan Rudalavage signed the letter on behalf of Pine Line as president and secretary, respectively; Abraham Rosenberg signed Pine Hill Dream with an address of 7 Meribeth Lane, Monroe, New York. This action creates exceptions for existing businesses: the law office of Mark Rudalavage at 171 Scranton Carbondale Highway, the Pine Line Auto Sales showroom and car lot at 151 Scranton Carbondale Highway, the Krisiak Chiropractic Office at 157 Scranton Carbondale Highway, and the Pine Line Auto Sales garage.

On the same day that Pine Hill Dream and Pine Line closed on 245 acres, Archbald Pines LLC, 75 Huntington St., Brooklyn, New York, entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Archbald Ventures LLC, 1 Executive Blvd., Suite 101, Suffern, New York, for an area adjacent to 250 Hills of Dreams in New York’s 250 Hills. purchased land, according to a copy of the agreement reported Monday. Closing will be on June 1, although the buyer can move it to Dec. 31, according to the agreement.

Isaac Hager signed the agreement as a member of Archbald Pines; Hager is listed as the managing director of Cornell Realty Management in Wildcat Ridge’s Dec. 15 Dec. A conditional application was filed with Archbald. Although the application uses an address of 347 Flushing Ave., Suite 800, Brooklyn, for Cornell Realty, plans attached to the application refer to Cornell’s address as 75 Huntington St., Brooklyn — the same address as Archbald Pines LLC.

Both Pine Hill Dream and Archbald Pines also used the same law firm, Jeffrey Zwick & Associates PC.

Pine Line Inc. previously sold 250 acres to Archbald Ventures LLC for $4 million, according to a property sale recorded on February 22, 2024.

Cornell Realty’s conditional use application for the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus specifically identifies both properties as part of its use. The company also plans to purchase the property from Timothy J. Seaman and James L. and Michael A. Booth, subject to its conditional use.

As of Monday afternoon, there were no recent deeds or sales agreements filed in Lackawanna County for the Seaman or Booth property, which is about 80 acres.

Archbald previously held hearings for the campus Jan. 28 and March 10, where the proposal faced opposition from the public and elected leaders, including Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan and State Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-112, Blakely.

At the conclusion of the March 10 hearing, the county announced the next Wildcat Ridge hearing will be April 13.