The Newark Project data center, Newark, Delaware

The Newark Project, Shelbourne's plan to replace the White Clay Center business park at the end of White Clay Center Drive near Newark, in New Castle County, Delaware, with an 850,000-square-foot data center campus, has been suspended under a handshake deal, but the company is still seeking county approval for it. In September 2026 the New York-based developer filed plans to turn half of one existing building into a 10-classroom vocational school for the Christina School District instead.

The 44-acre site, reached from Ogletown Road (Del. 273) across from CarMax, holds seven office and industrial buildings from the 1980s and sits just across the railroad tracks from Kimberton, Greenbridge, Newark Oaks and several apartment complexes. Exploratory plans filed in late 2025 would demolish them for three light industrial buildings and a guard shack, with the proposed use listed as a data center. The engineering firm Verdantas filed the land use application, which also describes a switchyard.

County Councilman Tim Sheldon, who represents the area, said in July that he had brokered a non-binding deal with Shelbourne's attorney, Shawn Tucker, to pause the data center and consider other uses. The deal depends on the county approving Shelbourne's exploratory plan, which would grandfather the land under the zoning rules in place before 2026 and exempt it from the county's new data center regulations.

"If I'm not there, there's no promises," Sheldon said, noting the agreement is between him and Tucker, not the county. "Nobody else has even done this much and it seems like I'm getting hammered because I did something," he said in a text.

Neighbors have said a data center would use too much water and energy and be too noisy. In August the county planning department asked the developer to confirm there is enough energy supply to serve the site, and Tucker said his client is still trying to get the data center plan approved while staying open to other tenants. "They're not pushing it, but they've gotta keep their options open," Sheldon said.

The data center plan still lacks county sign-off; the decision rests with the New Castle County planning department, which is reviewing both it and the school proposal, and the Christina school board has voted to move the Networks school as soon as January 2027.