Data centers in Albany County, New York: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Albany County's data center proposal is on the 76-acre Kenwood property off Southern Boulevard in the city of Albany's South End: the former convent and Doane Stuart School, whose main building burned in 2023. Developer Michael-Henry Elghanian-Krayem bought it at a foreclosure auction in March 2023 for $100,000, two days before that fire, and says he has since spent $15 million. After housing and an Amazon-style warehouse proved unworkable, his EKG Group and Guild Ventures now propose a technology campus anchored by a 500,000-square-foot data center. It would come with labs, offices, clean-tech manufacturing and nearly 300 apartments. They put the first buildings at $570 million, with up to $2.8 billion invested over time, and say the data center would use up to 100 MW. In November they asked the state grid operator to study up to 180 MW for the whole site, a figure Guild calls a "theoretical ceiling."

The plan surfaced in May 2026, and opposition grew quickly. Residents protested outside the city's planning department. A data center would be "only drawing resources out of Albany without reinvigorating the community," said Ian Cummins. The site borders a state-designated environmental justice area. The developer says the data center would have no air emissions and minimal, closed-loop water use, and would be fully supported by the existing grid. Albany's zoning code has no category for data centers, so the project would need a zoning change, site plan approval and probably a PILOT tax deal. More than $8 million in back property taxes is also owed to the county. County Executive Dan McCoy said the county does not control the decision and called for a cost-benefit analysis. Oliver Holmes Jr., an engineer who formerly worked at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and reviewed the developer's presentation, said a data center there would likely rely on batteries and backup generators that emit when tested or used, and that nearby power plants drawing cooling water could affect Bethlehem's supply as well as Albany's. "There's this cascading impact," he said.

State action has since overtaken the city's. State Sen. Patricia Fahy, citing the Kenwood project, was among the legislators who proposed a one-year statewide moratorium on data center approvals, and the Legislature passed it in June. The Common Council passed a resolution supporting a statewide one-year moratorium. About a week later, in July 2026, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order pausing certain state environmental permits for new data centers of 50 MW and up while the state writes rules. A 100 MW data center would be twice that threshold. "This pause, I believe, is a step in the right direction," said Councilmember Owusu Anane. Elghanian-Krayem said the governor "is right, however, to want the data center industry properly regulated." No formal application had been filed with the city as of July.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.