🔒NY developer proposes 1M-sq.-ft. data center in Connecticut

New York-based Atlas Capital Group has proposed to build a two-story data center spanning more than 1 million square feet across two floors on a vacant site in Bloomfield. Atlas Capital presented a conceptual plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission during its June 26 meeting. The informational discussion was a precursor to a formal application. According to the plan, the data center facility would be built on a 44.5 acre property at 132 Griffin Road North, which is off Route 189. The concept plan shows more than 900,000 square feet of data processing space with server halls, along with a 127,000-square-foot open air substation on a concrete pad. Marisa Fontaine, of Atlas Capital, said the substation is required for a project of this size and that the company has had preliminary talks with Eversource. The 60-foot tall building would contain 5,500 square feet of office space, 8,700 square feet of storage space and a 6,818-square-foot loading facility. About 40 people would work in the building, and the plans show 42 parking spaces. There would be two generator yards, to the north and south of the facility, which would be used for emergency back-up power during outages, Fontaine said. Chillers to cool the data servers would be placed on the roof. The property has two access points – one from Griffin Road and the other from Route 189. In 1987, the town approved a master plan for a mixed-use development on the property, but the project never moved forward. Several similar proposals have been considered over the years, said Attorney Joseph Hammer, of MacDermid, Reynolds and Glissman in Hartford, who is representing Atlas Capital. “As you know, the property has not been developed and we look forward to reviewing with you what we believe will be a very beneficial development and use of the property,” Hammer said during the meeting. After the presentation, commissioners said they thought the project was “worthy of consideration” if the property is developed in a way that would “not be incompatible with the community surrounding it.” Atlas Capital Group is a commercial and retail development company serving the New York and Los Angeles areas.