Warehouse owner with big Lehigh Valley presence is betting big on data centers
Prologis, a major real estate company with a significant presence in the Lehigh Valley, is reportedly planning to convert a 1 million-square-foot vacant warehouse in Allen Township into a data center. This move reflects a broader company strategy to capitalize on the growing demand for data centers, driven by artificial intelligence. Prologis plans to build an electrical substation to power the facility, highlighting the energy-intensive nature of such developments.
Prologis, a prominent real estate company known for its industrial and logistics facilities in the Lehigh Valley, is reportedly shifting its focus to data center development. The company is considering converting a 1 million-square-foot vacant warehouse in Allen Township, Pennsylvania, into a data center to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence.
Dan Letter, Prologis CEO, stated in an interview that data centers represent "one of the largest value creation opportunities in the company's history." The company has been strategically acquiring land and securing power access near major cities, leading to a significant rise in its stock over the past year. Prologis has also published a list of "responsible data center development commitments" addressing concerns such as environmental impact, water usage, and community engagement.
Documents obtained by The Morning Call indicate that Prologis plans to construct an electrical substation to power the proposed facility in Allen Township. Former CEO Hamid Moghadam highlighted that the company's evolution from a real estate business to an infrastructure provider, particularly in digital infrastructure, makes this expansion into data centers a logical step given its role as a landlord to major tech companies like Amazon. This trend aligns with observations from commercial real estate firm CBRE, which notes a rise in developers adopting hybrid-power strategies to expedite construction and reduce grid dependency for data centers.