A picture of the SHW site from 2024.
ANSONIA – Mayor David Cassetti’s administration plans to lease out two lots at the former SHW site on 35 N. Main St. this year.
The city’s planning & zoning commission made a positive 8 – 24 referral for the property during its meeting March 31. The city put out a request for proposals for the property April 4.
You can read that request for proposals here.
The blighted, 3.58-acre property on 35 N. Main St. was owned by the SHW Casting Co. until 2000, when it was sold for $60,000 to Pandel Properties LLC. In 2020, the City of Ansonia foreclosed on the dilapidated property and took control of it.
The final building on the site, known as Building 12, is scheduled to be demolished this year. Economic development director Sheila O’Malley said the demolition is supposed to start in the coming weeks.
Administration officials have expressed their desire to bring data centers and fuel cells to the lot since early last year. In October 2024, the city signed a $37 million lease-purchase agreement to build 3.96 megawatts’ worth of fuel cells on the site.
O’Malley said the city would like to search for data center tenants after it finishes building an access road on the site.
“Once the access road gets constructed and the site pads are put on, we would like to bid out the project to what we believe will be a data center, and possibly another smaller fuel cell,” O’Malley said.
The city hopes to create new sources of recurring revenue from both the data center and fuel cell projects.
Data centers are buildings that house computers, servers, and storage that are then rented out to customers. Computing company IBM defines a data center as “a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure for building, running and delivering applications and services.”
According to an article from CBRE Group, Inc. – a global commercial real estate service – cities can reap tax revenues from the expensive computer infrastructure required to run data centers.
“On a local and state level, sales and property tax revenues are being fortified by data center growth. In a typical data center, sizable investment in computer hardware and software is required, as is ongoing maintenance of the equipment,” the article states.
Planning and zoning commission chairman Jared Heon asked about the potential noise that could come from the property. William Phipps, a former Alderman, also said he had concerns about noise.
“We can’t allow noise to get out of that property. What our noise values are, I don’t know, but it’s just something to be alert to, and that’s the only concern I have. Other than that, a 4‑megawatt power plant is going to be possibly beneficial,” Phipps said.
Ansonia Democrats also criticized the noise levels of data centers in a Facebook post. The post says that data centers create environmental hazards and strain energy grids.
O’Malley said that noise control can be a part of the bid specifications that the city puts out. She also said the city would need to return to the commission before approving any lease onsite.
O’Malley also pointed out that the address is zoned for heavy industrial use. Heon said if data centers don’t take over the site, something else will.
“Something is going to go there, and it’s just about putting the right thing in,” Heon said.
Planning and zoning commissioner Kenneth Moffat asked who would build the buildings for the data centers. O’Malley said she hoped the tenants would construct the building themselves, but that those details haven’t been worked out.
