A $5 billion data center campus in Massena — the largest private project ever proposed in New York’s North Country — has cleared its first formal municipal hurdle. On June 26, the Massena Town Planning Board opened pre-submission review of NYDIG’s plan to build two data halls totaling roughly 1.1 million square feet on the former Alcoa East smelter site, drawing up to 635 megawatts of hydroelectric power from the St. Lawrence River. The project shifts a dormant aluminum plant into what could become one of the largest hydro-powered AI computing campuses in the Northeast, and it creates a multi-year low-voltage construction opportunity that extends well beyond the data halls themselves.
What the Planning Board actually approved
The board’s action on June 26 was narrow but consequential. It referred the project to the Zoning Board of Appeals to determine whether a large-scale data center qualifies as a permitted use in the town’s industrial zone — data centers are not currently authorized there. If the answer is no, NYDIG will need either a use variance or a zoning code amendment. Planning Board Chairman Vance Fleury indicated the town is already working on a code update that would run in parallel with the review.
The board also established a $100,000 escrow account to fund outside consultants who will study the project across several dimensions before any site-plan approval: energy usage and grid impact, noise, traffic, cooling water systems, emergency response and fire protection, and fiscal and economic impact. The St. Lawrence County Planning Board had previously reviewed the proposal and sent it back with requests for deeper analysis on power systems, traffic, noise, and the closed-loop cooling design that NYDIG says will avoid drawing from or discharging into local waterways.
This is the beginning of a formal review process, not a green light. But for a project of this scale, entering pre-submission review means the applicant has committed real money — the escrow, the engineering, the legal work — and is past the concept stage.
The campus, by the numbers
According to DCD reporting and the project website maintained by North Country Collocation Services (NCCS), the NYDIG affiliate behind the proposal, here’s what’s on the table:
- Two data halls on approximately 355 developable acres adjacent to NCCS’s existing 110-acre site — down from an earlier three-building, 1.5 million sq ft concept after community feedback trimmed roughly 400,000 sq ft from the footprint.
- 635 megawatts of power demand, drawn from existing approved hydroelectric capacity on the St. Lawrence River via the New York Power Authority. No new fossil fuel or nuclear generation required.
- Roughly 1.1 million square feet of data center space, with construction phased over approximately two years.
- Peak construction employment of 1,800 to 2,500 workers, transitioning to about 200 permanent full-time positions once operational.
- 124 backup generators (down from a prior 316), used only for standby power and periodic testing.
The campus is designed to support modern computing and AI infrastructure, with NYDIG phasing out the existing Bitcoin mining operations currently on the site. The shift from crypto to AI is the same transition happening at campuses across New York — most visibly at TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner facility in Western New York — and it carries a different low-voltage profile: higher fiber density, more structured cabling, tighter security requirements.
Why a Massena campus matters for low-voltage trades
A 635 MW data center campus doesn’t get built without Division 27 and Division 28 work running through every phase. Here’s what the scope looks like at this scale, and why the review milestone matters for contractors and buyers across the North Country and beyond.
Structured cabling at AI density. AI workloads demand far higher cabling density than crypto mining racks. Two data halls at 1.1 million sq ft means tens of thousands of fiber and copper drops, backbone fiber runs between halls and to the meet-me-room, and structured cabling infrastructure that has to be designed before the slab is poured. The crews in our network who hold BICSI certifications are the ones who scope this work — and the earlier the campus moves through review, the sooner that scoping begins.
Fiber backbone and outside plant. A campus this size needs redundant fiber pathways to carrier backbones, and Massena’s location near the Canadian border means those pathways involve cross-border fiber routes. The data center cabling scope extends well past the building envelope into outside plant fiber optic cabling, manholes, and carrier entrance facilities.
Physical security and access control. 124 backup generators, 200 permanent staff, and a 355-acre site means perimeter security, gate control, camera coverage, and credentialed access at multiple layers. The backup generator count alone — each one needing fuel monitoring, fire suppression, and access control — represents a substantial security systems package.
Fire alarm and life safety. Data centers carry specialized fire suppression (clean agent systems, VESDA air sampling), and the Massena Planning Board explicitly flagged emergency response and fire protection as areas requiring consultant review. That’s a fire alarm and low-voltage life safety scope that runs parallel to the structured cabling build.
The regional ripple effect
Massena is in St. Lawrence County, on the St. Lawrence River near the Canadian border — not a market that has historically appeared on low-voltage contractors’ radar. But a $5 billion private build changes the math. The peak construction workforce of 1,800 to 2,500 will need staging areas, contractor offices, temporary security, and telecom infrastructure before the data halls themselves are operational. Local industrial and commercial properties get repurposed. Supply chain logistics buildings go up. And the permanent operational staff will drive demand for office tenant fit-outs in the surrounding area.
This is the same pattern playing out in Central New York around Micron’s Clay megafab, where vertical construction is pulling low-voltage demand forward across the Syracuse metro. Massena is a smaller market with less existing commercial infrastructure, which means more of the support build happens from scratch — and more greenfield low-voltage scope for contractors who can mobilize there.
The project also feeds into the broader New York data center pipeline we track in our NYISO interconnection queue tracker, which shows over 13 GW of large-load requests across the state. Massena’s 635 MW is one of the largest single-campus requests in that pipeline, and its progress through municipal review is a leading indicator of whether the North Country becomes a third major data center cluster in New York alongside Central New York and Western New York. For the fiber density and pathway work that follows once a campus leaves review, see our guide to fiber optic cable installation for NY buildings.
What to watch next
The Massena Zoning Board of Appeals has to rule on whether data centers are a permitted use in the industrial zone — that decision gates everything else. Once that’s resolved, the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process begins in earnest, with the consultant studies the Planning Board has already scoped. The board has signaled it wants detail before public hearings: Chairman Fleury compared the current submission unfavorably to a prior $400 million project that came in complete, noting that “this is a $5 billion project and there’s no detail.”
Opposition exists — the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has raised concerns about the site’s proximity to their territory, energy and water demands, noise, and transparency. How those concerns are addressed in the SEQR process will affect the timeline and the final scope.
For contractors, IT directors, and GCs watching the North Country: the time to understand the low-voltage scope of a 635 MW campus is now, while it’s in review — not when construction starts and every trade in the region is already committed. The crews in our network who specialize in data center cabling, fiber, and security can help you scope the work before the demand crunch hits — including Capital Region support build-out that typically follows a campus of this scale.
Scoping structured cabling, fiber, or security for a project in the North Country or anywhere in New York? Get a free estimate and we’ll match your scope with the right licensed partner contractor in our network.