A massive and controversial AI data center is under construction in South Jersey

The French developer of South Jersey’s first large-scale AI data center made his case to residents on Wednesday, saying his massive under-construction facility will benefit them in ways unprecedented in the emerging industry.

But at a contentious town hall, several residents said they’re not taking his word for it, especially given the timing at which the developer was asking for their input.

“You couldn’t do this before the building was built?” asked one resident, who spoke during public comment but declined to give their name. “You kind of took our voice away.”

The 2.4 million-square-foot, 300-megawatt Vineland data center was approved by city council more than a year ago. The center is already under construction, and the developer expects to complete it by November.

DataOne, a French company that manages advanced data centers, is the owner, operator, and builder. Its client, Nebius Group, an Amsterdam-based AI-infrastructure company, will operate the center’s internal technology, which will fuel Microsoft’s AI tools.

Located on South Lincoln Avenue, off State Route 55, the site was formerly a private industrial park. It was sold to DataOne in a private transaction, the details of which Charles-Antoine Beyney, DataOne’s founder and chief executive officer, declined to disclose.

At city council meetings and on social media, some residents have voiced concerns about the environmental, financial, and quality-of-life impacts of the site. Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, residents were prompted to submit questions online that were then addressed in a presentation. Dozens also took to the mic afterward.

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Beyney said he understood their concerns, but they don’t apply to his center, which will use “breakthrough” technology to reduce its environmental impact.

“Most of the data centers that are being built today suck, big time,” Beyney said Wednesday. “They consume water. They pollute. They are extremely not efficient. This is clearly not what we are building here.”

“No freaking way am I am going to do what the entire industry is doing … just killing our communities and killing our lungs to make money,” he added.

Data centers house the technology needed to fuel increasingly sophisticated AI tools. In recent years, they have been proliferating across the country and the region.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle — from Republican President Donald Trump to Democratic Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro — have encouraged the expansion, as have certain labor and business leaders. Yet environmental activists and some neighbors of proposed data centers have pushed back.

Across the Philadelphia region, residents have recently organized opposition to proposals for a 1.3 million-square-foot data center in East Vincent Township and a 2 million-square-foot facility near Conshohocken (that was forced to be withdrawn in November due to legal issues).

This week, Limerick Township residents voiced concerns about the possibility of data centers being built in their community. And in Bucks County, a 2-million-square-foot data center is already under construction in Falls Township.

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Pennsylvania and New Jersey are home to more than 150 data centers of varying sizes and scopes, according to Data Center Map, a private company that tracks the facilities nationwide. But so far, the AI data center boom has largely spared South Jersey.

A 560,000-square-foot data center is being built in Logan Township, Gloucester County, and is set to have a capacity of up to 150 megawatts once completed in early 2027, according to the website of its designer, Energy Concepts. There are also smaller, specialized data centers in Atlantic City and Pennsauken, according to Data Center Map.

In Vineland, Beyney said his gas-powered center will have nearly net-zero emissions, not consume water while cooling the equipment, and generate 85% of its own power. He told residents: “You will not see your bill for electricity going and skyrocketing.”

The facility will be 100% privately funded, he said, after the company turned down a nearly $6.2 million loan from the city amid resident backlash. The loan was approved at a December council meeting, and Beyney said DataOne would have paid about $450,000 in interest, money that could have gone back into the community.

“That’s a shame,” Beyney said, “but we follow the people.”

At a meeting next week, Vineland City Council could approve a PILOT agreement that would give DataOne tax breaks on the new construction in exchange for payments to the city.

Beyney said DataOne plans to be a good neighbor. Across the street from the data center, he said they will build a vertical farm — which grows crops indoors using technology — and provide free fruits and vegetables to Vineland residents in need.

Several residents expressed skepticism, and even anger, about Beyney’s data-center promises, noting that Cumberland County already has plenty of farms.

Regarding the data center itself, they asked how Beyney could be so confident about new technology, questioned the objectivity of his data, and accused him of taking advantage of a city where nearly 14% of residents live below the poverty line.

Beyney denied the allegations.

At least one resident said he was moved by Beyney’s assurances.

“I was a really big critic of [the data center all along], but I think what you said tonight has alleviated a lot of my concerns,” said Steve Brown, who lives about a mile away from the data center. He still had one gripe, however: The noise.

“What I hear every night when I wake up at 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning is this rumble off in the distance,” Brown said. “When I get out of my car every day when I get home, I hear it.”

Brown invited Beyney and his team to come hear the noise from his kitchen or back patio. Beyney said they would do so, and promised to get the sound attenuated as soon as possible, certainly by the end of the project’s construction.