A peek at the plans for a 2.6 million-square-foot data center complex on the former Air Products headquarters site in Upper Macungie Township reveals only a few differences from a warehouse plan previously pitched for the site. The biggest one features a drop in anticipated traffic.
The plan still includes three buildings. Essentially, it looks like someone took a marker, scratched out “warehouse” and replaced it with “data center.” The biggest building would be 1.23 million square feet and stand along the west side of the property. The second building would be 926,250 square feet, and the smallest is 435,600 square feet.
A Morning Call reporter was given access to the plans Monday morning by Upper Macungie Township officials. It included large binders with hundreds of pages of data for such things as wastewater management, traffic studies and geological surveys. Dozens of large sheets of paper give detailed information on what would go where, from drainage basins to stop signs.
They were submitted late last week by Air Products, which still owns the 194-acre property between Hamilton Boulevard and Cetronia Road. The bulk of the proposal was prepared by the Pidcock Co., a civil engineering firm in Salisbury Township.
Besides granting access to the plans, Upper Macungie officials have been tight-lipped about them. Air Products said last week that it has not made any announcements about selling the land and has no additional information.
Traffic counts
Air Products has received PennDOT’s approval for traffic counts that were estimated for a warehouse complex that would include several tractor-trailers and cars moving in and out.
Revised numbers for the data center have 871 fewer vehicles arriving and leaving the complex on an average day, with 1,742 fewer trips.
Access would be exclusively from Cetronia Road, which would be straightened and widened, and would shave off a corner of the property. Homes along the current road would have access via a cul-de-sac
The Hamilton Boulevard entrance would be used exclusively by chemicals company Evonik, which has already taken over part of the former headquarters complex. Emergency vehicles would also have access to the data centers from that entrance.
The stormwater management design would remain unchanged. A geological survey from Geo-Technology Associates warned about the potential for sinkholes.
Further documents showed that PPL and UGI would provide utilities and the Lehigh County Authority is planning to provide 95,000 gallons of water per day, a figure that comes from 2022, when warehouses were planned for the site.
Air Products built its headquarters at the site in the mid-1950s on what was farmland. The company moved to another location about a mile away in 2021.
The warehouse proposal drew some blowback, but received approvals from the township in 2023. Logistics company Prologis would have owned the warehouses, but any deal apparently fell through.
Upper Macungie is looking to update its zoning ordinance to include regulations for data centers. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Planning Committee plans to review it as part of its virtual meeting at noon Tuesday.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.
