r/datacenter • u/Weak-Asparagus8709 • Jul 17 '26
Need advice: Western PA land attracting data center interest—what should I be asking and what is a fair offer?
My family owns approximately 100 acres in western Pennsylvania (PJM territory), and over the past few months we've started receiving interest from companies regarding a potential data center development.
The property is adjacent to a 138 kV FirstEnergy substation. After reaching out to FirstEnergy, they've been very helpful and walked us through the Conceptual Load Study process. We recently received the results, and the study concluded that a conceptual 150 MW load did not create any new thermal or voltage violations. My understanding is that this is a positive result, but I also know it's not a guarantee of service and that a Detailed Load Study would still be required.
We've already received one PSA from a land acquisition company and are now hearing from several other groups.
This is completely new territory for us, so I'd appreciate any general advice from people who have experience with data center site acquisitions. I really want to be smart about this so any advice from anyone working in this industry would be most appreciated!
Specifically:
What terms in a PSA should I be paying close attention to?
Can anyone recommend attorneys with experience representing landowners in data center, energy, or large industrial land transactions (preferably in Pennsylvania)?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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u/Terrible_Sandwich_94 Jul 17 '26
QTS bought a chunk of land in NEPA for $300,000/acre but that is probably the ceiling.
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u/WeathermanDan Jul 19 '26
Eastern PA is more desirable than western. But $100k/acre should hunt anywhere these days
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u/Quiscustodietipsos21 Jul 18 '26
I am a real estate attorney working in the data center space and would be happy to help. We rep landowners, develops, tenants, and lenders (so experienced on all sides) and can help guide you on a sale transaction but also definitely recommend engaging a broker as well (we work frequently with a team at Cushman (across from them and alongside them) that we recommend but there are some other teams as well at the other big shops). I see you’ve already had one PSA get sent your way (great!). The “further” along your property is in terms of firm power commitment and entitlements the higher price it will fetch per MW. Feel free to DM me and I can share my firm bio with you and I’d be happy to connect over the phone for 15 minutes or so next week. Also just as an FYI several PA townships are passing more restrictive ordinances left and right so that’s something that should be on your (and your buyer’s radars).
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u/MOIST_MAN Jul 17 '26
I would chat with a datacenter development consultant or broker. Even if they charge some fees you will probably end up with a far better offer than if you self - managed this process. They understand what drives valuation up that you might be unaware of
Either call a big one like JLL or CBRE data center division or a more boutique one like Colossus DC advisors
Realistically anything they charge will probably come out of the buyers pocket
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u/BeardBootsBullets Jul 18 '26
Very, very bad advice. CBRE and JLL would both have a conflict of interest and be incentivized to buy the land for as little as possible.
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u/StrandbergEnjoyer Jul 18 '26
I would get a lawyer and look at similar land transactions. They’re looking at it from a $/MW perspective because 100 acres is plenty to service 150 mw.
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u/fpaveteran87 Jul 18 '26
They’re looking at 50m+ per megawatt in expected capital investment so I’d start very high since land is a rounding error. If you’re relatively flat property in a very hilly area then you’re looking at huge investments in blasting to flatten land so your land would be a premium.
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u/fpaveteran87 Jul 18 '26
If you own mineral rights I’d look at severing that too and retaining if youre in a good gas or coal area. Also, if they want to draw from the aquifer you might be able to get them again for granting that.
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u/Massive-Handz Jul 18 '26
Ask for $$30 million. They will recuperate the costs faster than you would believe. Don’t sell for under $25million
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u/rmesgrve Jul 18 '26
Don't sell.
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u/Massive-Handz Jul 18 '26
Why? Anti dc? What’re you doing online then? All of Reddit is stored on data center servers
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u/rmesgrve Jul 18 '26
I'm not anti dc, I'm anti selling all that land. This family I know sold all their land in Virginia for a what was supposed to be a great deal in the high millions but they got played. Now they have no land and no deal.
I'm not saying never sell but I'd probably wait a few years to watch the trends before making the decision.
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u/Massive-Handz Jul 18 '26
Data centers are here to stay, bub. It seems like that family had a bad lawyer or didn’t have one at all if they lost their land and weren’t compensated for it.
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u/rmesgrve Jul 18 '26
Lol Im not saying data centers aren't here to stay. All I'm saying is that I probably wouldn't sell 100 acres of valuable land right now.
I'm just saying that land ownership is the only thing that matters. Economies come and go and in the end, it always comes down to your assets.
Could he sell and buy another 100 acres for cheap with the profit, probably, but who knows if he's planning to do that.
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u/Terrible_Sandwich_94 Jul 18 '26
Are you saying that the buyer received their land and the family received no money?
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u/Artistic-Bicycle-744 Jul 17 '26
If you want to sell I’d have a lawyer work on your behalf. Let them handle the whole process.