Niagara Digital Campus Settlement Clears a Path Through Local Zoning

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The Niagara Digital Campus is a $1.5 billion data center project located in downtown Niagara Falls, New York, where the city council approved a settlement with developer Niagara Falls Redevelopment on June 3, 2026. The first phase has moved to land on 15th Street, behind the Holy Trinity church complex.

Niagara Digital Campus Faces a State Permit Pause With No Construction Date

Governor Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order 62 on July 14, pausing state environmental permits for data centers of 50 megawatts or more for up to a year, and the 135 megawatt campus has no announced construction date. In Virginia, Amazon dropped its Virginia Science and Technology Campus data center plan after local opposition.

Project Overview

• Project Name: Niagara Digital Campus
• Location: Downtown Niagara Falls, New York, with the first phase now planned on 15th Street behind the Holy Trinity church complex
• Project Value: $1.5 billion, reported as $1.48 billion in some coverage
• Client or Owner: Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR)
• Key Components: About 600,000 square feet of data center space in nine buildings on roughly 53 acres, a planned 135 megawatts, and an electrical substation that NFR would design, build and operate at its own expense
• Local Approvals: City council approved a settlement on June 3, 2026, though state and local approvals are still required
• State Permit Pause: Executive Order 62 of July 14, 2026 pauses state environmental permits for data centers of 50 megawatts or more for up to a year
• Jobs: NFR cites at least 500 permanent jobs and more than 1,500 temporary construction jobs
• Expected Start: No construction date announced, with NFR saying earlier in 2026 that work could begin within about six months of approvals

Project Team

• Developer: Niagara Falls Redevelopment
• Development Partner: Urbacon
• Local Government: City of Niagara Falls
• State Government: Governor of New York
• State Permitting Agency: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• State Study Lead: New York State Department of Public Service
• Engineering and Construction Contractor: Not publicly disclosed

Reported 13th October 2023: The Niagara Falls Redevelopment Authority has unveiled site plans for the first phase of its $1.5 billion data centre proposal. In a press release sent to the newspaper and other media sites on Wednesday, NFR spokesperson James Haggerty supplied copies of the company’s site plan for its Niagara Digital Campus project. The declaration came roughly an hour after Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration published comments and two videos criticising the corporation and its lengthy history of failing to rebuild land in the city.

Also Read: Microsoft announces new data centre campus

NFR and Urbacon indicated that they propose building the Niagara Digital Campus in two parts, a first and second phase, over the course of about 24 months from groundbreaking. Furthermore, phase I, which would be located on the 10-acre “Parcel 0” property, will house about 282,000 square feet of the 600,000 square-foot data center space envisioned for the entire project.

The site plan shows the first 50 MW of the proposed 135 MW project would fit on the parcel and the location of an electric substation that NFR and Urbacon say the would build at the site to provide power to the data center and, according to company officials, “materially improve the downtown Niagara Falls electric grid.”

Additionally, the site plan, prepared by Urbacon, NFR’s partner in the Niagara Digital Campus proposal, depicts what the companies say the first phase of the project could look like on what NFR calls “Parcel 0,” a 10-acre plot of land it owns off John B. Daly Boulevard near the intersection of 10th and Falls streets.

Comments on the Niagara Falls Redevelopment data centre

“We are pleased to present this plan for the Niagara Digital Campus, which we believe will jumpstart a tech revolution in the City of Niagara Falls,” said Roger Trevino, president of the Niagara Falls Partnership. ” Furthermore, working with Urbacon, we have a rare opportunity to bring jobs and opportunity to the residents of Niagara Falls — the types of jobs that can change lives and foster high-technology infrastructure that will benefit the City of Niagara Falls for generations.”