Even as a data center moratorium sits on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk, awaiting a signature, a zoning change could push forward a development right in the state capital.
EKG Group’s Michael-Henry Elghanian-Krayem is pushing to rezone into the “light industrial” classification at the Kenwood Commons site, the Times Union reported. The 76-acre site is zoned for a mixed-use campus today and needs numerous approvals to go forward, including at least two revisions to the city’s zoning regulations.
The rezoning would allow for both a data center and a broader technology campus. The $570 million project consists of a 500,000-square-foot data center, as well as research labs, offices, 300 apartments and ground-floor retail; the price tag could grow all the way to $2 billion.
Community opposition is forming on the regular battle lines for data center projects. Last week, a community member called on the site to be home to affordable housing instead of a data center, which Elghanian-Krayem said wouldn’t pencil out because the site didn’t come with state and federal subsidies.
As for energy concerns, Elghanian-Krayem pledged not to draw significant water from the city or prompt the rise in wholesale electric prices.
The site is of great sensitivity to the area. For a long time, it housed Kenwood Academy and a convent complete with a Gothic abbey. But the school and the church buildings were heavily damaged three years ago by a fire.
“We’ve gone through every single use here to remove this blight, to regenerate it, to rehabilitate it,” Elghanian-Krayem said of the site.
Data centers are far from a certainty to be developed anywhere in New York.
Lawmakers recently approved a sweeping bill from Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assembly member Didi Barrett that includes a one-year moratorium on new large facilities. If the measure becomes law it would make New York the first in the U.S. to impose a statewide pause on data center development amid growing concerns about the industry’s energy and water demands.
The moratorium is a scaled-back version of the three-year freeze initially sought by lawmakers and environmental advocates to give regulators time to develop guardrails for the fast-growing sector.
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