LBT Investment Group LLC Data Center, Sugarloaf Township, Pennsylvania

LBT Investment Group LLC of Chicago wants to build a $4.8 billion data center on 185 acres along Tomhicken Road in Sugarloaf Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and has taken the township to court to force its zoning to allow one. The township's zoning did not address data centers, so in 2025 LBT filed what Pennsylvania law calls a curative amendment, a legal request to fix the zoning map, so data centers would be allowed in the I-1 industrial zone that includes its site.

The supervisors refused to adopt it, and LBT appealed to Luzerne County Court, where the case is still pending; no data center application has been filed with the township. LBT's May 2025 proposal described six buildings of 200,000 square feet each, 10 acres of electrical substations, 180 jobs paying $80,000 to $150,000 a year, and completion by 2032.

LBT has said the project would connect only to existing 230-kilovolt power lines, not the larger 500-kilovolt line PPL has proposed through the valley, and that closed-loop cooling would use about 100,000 gallons per building. "The township does not need to rush into a settlement or adopt a developer-driven ordinance," said resident John Zola after supervisors tabled a joint township-LBT ordinance in February 2026 following a meeting where more than 50 residents objected.

"The people making the decisions don't live here. They don't own land here. But it's people like my 85-year-old parents who will be stuck paying these bills and dealing with the environmental destruction, water, air, soil, you name it," said resident Andy Sanko. Attorney Jack Dean, who represents several residents, told the board LBT is not registered to do business in Pennsylvania: "This morning, I filed a motion on behalf of my clients to strike their land use appeal because they are not registered in Pennsylvania."

Supervisors Joseph DiSabella Sr., Rick Weaver and Jennifer Pecora are still weighing the joint ordinance while the court case and Dean's motion to strike LBT's appeal are both pending in Luzerne County Court; no date has been set for either decision.