A proposed hyperscale data center project in Westfield is no more, after the city's planning board Tuesday refused to give the developer an extension on their special permit, which expires at the end of October.
Members of the board verbally sparred with Paul Corey, a representative of developer Servistar Realties, over the course of a tense two-hour long special meeting. Servistar has been trying to get a more than 150-acre data center campus off the ground in Westfield since 2019.
Planning board members were primarily concerned with the lack of progress on the project since they initially approved permits five years ago, in 2021. Since then, Servistar had begun negotiations with local utility company Westfield Gas & Electric over energy supply, and brought in environmental surveyors to perform wetland delineation on the proposed property. But the developer never actually purchased any of the land they planned to build on. That was a sticking point for planning board chair William Carellas.
"I look at what you're selling and I look at what we provided, and we provided you all the tools to make this shovel-ready," Carellas said. "Last time I knew you guys haven't bought land yet. And I mean, clearly we gave you what you needed."
Corey argued the data center proposal was delayed by a confluence of factors, pointing primarily to state-level tax incentives he said needed to be in place before Servistar could finance major aspects of the project. Sales tax breaks for data centers were codified into state law in 2024, though Gov. Maura Healey froze applications for them this past summer.
He told the board that Servistar had been lobbying for the tax exemptions since before they initially sought permits.
"We began discussions with the legislature, legislative leaders," he said. "We retained a government relations firm that helped us from day one. It's just, the legislative process takes time."
Corey also said the project suffered disruptions due to general instability in global markets. He cited the election of President Donald Trump in late 2024, and the sweeping tariffs his administration enacted shortly thereafter.
"Trump had initiated massive federal tariffs that affected chips, supply chains, natural gas costs, all of those complicating issues," Corey said."And so it really kind of delayed everything. It wasn't because of us, it was because of the market."
Those arguments did not prove persuasive to the board.
"So everything that you mentioned, tariffs and all of this... there already should have been a building in place is the way I look at it," Carellas said.
Other members of the planning board said that Servistar should have been in more constant communication with them as they were running into problems, and that the lack of dialogue suggested project delays were the result of inaction on the developer's part.
"The way I'm looking at it, it seems like the organization of this project was not thoroughly reviewed prior to coming before the planning board," said Cheryl Crowe, planning board vice chair.
Board members also pointed out the developer's multiple procedural failings over the last five years: Servistar Realties allowed it's LLC status to lapse in late 2024, and never registered its initial special permit with the Hampden County Registry of Deeds.
"Whenever you see a big giant complex like this have a problem, its typically because a small little step got missed," said planning board member John Bowen. "Somebody didn't do an inspection, somebody didn't pull a permit, somebody didn't do what they were supposed to. And there's little things in the process here that lead me to believe that that could be a problem here."
The board voted unanimously to deny extending Servistar's permit, and that the developer had failed to demonstrate good cause to do so. The decision brought jeers from some viewers of the digital meeting, who were able to unmute their microphones and voice their discontent — shouting "be ashamed of yourselves" and "you're a disgrace to Westfield."
Per state law, Servistar can appeal the planning board's decision, but must do so within 20 days.
The end of the Servistar data center project largely closes the doors on the facilities in Westfield for the near future. The city council there voted to enact a year-long moratorium on data centers in July of this year, one of multiple Western Massachusetts communities pumping the brakes on data centers. Servistar had been exempted from that temporary ban, as at the time the project was already in motion.
