The former Summit Park Mall, mostly vacant and home to Niagara International Sports & Entertainment, has been eyed as the site for another data center in Niagara County.
Damian Parker, the CEO of e-commerce platform Premier Streets, first proposed the idea to the Wheatfield Planning Board in May. He wants to start with 2,000 square feet inside the former Bon-Ton store on the property’s southern end.
“We’re trying to see if we can reuse it to do data storage,” Parker said. He added his interest also came from knowing the site owner, Zoran Cocov, wants to reuse parts of the mall property and its proximity to the Niagara Power Project.
He did not say which companies would be interested in using the center.
Any buildout would require a demolition of the site interiors and rebuilding it into data halls, which would cost at least $20 million in demo work and roof improvements. Parker would want to expand to other parks of the mall structure if this first phase is fully occupied.
Among the project details Parker discussed with the town planning board at its August meeting was using Bloom Energy Servers and batteries to help power the center and the noise levels would be at around 55 decibels. Fans would be used for cooling the air inside, with a potential partnership to treat water used for cooling.
“They’re much quieter compared to a commercial AC unit,” Parker claimed during the meeting.
He added that the data center could bring in between 75 to 100 jobs among the technicians and engineers working the site and 24-hour security is needed to monitor.
Planner Melissa Germann said that, according to the town building inspector, data centers like this are considered commercial storage and are allowed to operate in commercially-zoned areas of the town, which the former Summit Park mall is in. The town code does not allow cryptocurrency mining.
Parker has yet to provide a proper site plan for the data center’s inside and outside, which would happen at a future town planning board meeting. The planners also want details on parking, the site facade, and an updated Environmental Assessment Form. They would also need to schedule a public hearing before granting a special use permit.
Depending on whether and when Parker receives town approval, the buildout for his data center would take three to four months.