SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — For more than a year, the data center rising on Route 1 in South Brunswick has drawn protests, a lawsuit and pushback from Princeton officials. Through it all, one question kept coming up: Who is it for?
The township's approvals and the state's draft air permit named only the developer, Sentinel Data Centers, and the company that owns the land. But state environmental records reviewed by Patch pointed to a company with deep roots in the area, one that already runs a data center elsewhere in town.
This week, Bloomberg LP confirmed it is the tenant.
"We're proud to employ nearly 4,000 New Jersey residents, including almost 1,500 at our Princeton campus, and this project is a further investment in the region that will generate substantial property tax revenue that will benefit the local community," said Bloomberg spokesman Ty Trippet.
Trippet said the facility is not an AI data center or a hyperscale facility. Its peak power use will be 30 megawatts, he said, and the generators on the site are emergency backup generators only.
There is no single official definition of a hyperscale data center. A Congressional Research Service report updated in May says industry analysts generally consider a facility hyperscale if it has at least 5,000 computer servers, at least 10,000 square feet of space and a power rating above 100 megawatts. By CRS's estimate, 100 megawatts can meet the electricity needs of about 80,000 U.S. households.
At 341,000 square feet, the South Brunswick building is well above that size benchmark. Bloomberg's stated 30-megawatt peak is below the power benchmark. The company has not said how many servers the facility will hold.
The state Department of Environmental Protection tracks the site under four active program records, according to its online DataMiner database. Three use the names "PN-DC 1" or "Proposed Data Center Development." The fourth, under DEP's discharge prevention program, is in the name "Bloomberg LP." That program covers facilities that store large amounts of fuel or hazardous substances.
Bloomberg is the only company named on the site's records.
DEP has inspected the site twice under that program, records show. A March 17 plan review and an Aug. 24 review both found no violations.
Bloomberg already runs data centers in New Jersey. DEP records show active air permits for Bloomberg data centers at 431 Ridge Road in South Brunswick, in Piscataway and in Totowa.
The 341,000-square-foot data center sits on 143 acres at 4405 Route 1, on the former Princeton Nurseries site. The township Planning Board approved it in May 2025.
Princeton University sold the land in 2024 to WRV Nurseries South Brunswick Owner LLC, which is also the applicant on the township approvals. The sale reportedly closed in January 2024 for $21.7 million.
Mayor Charlie Carley has said the project traces back to a 2005 agreement among the township, Princeton University and the state. That deal preserved 214 acres as the Mapleton Preserve, and the rest of the land along Route 1 was zoned for office and commercial use. The data center was approved as a permitted use, Carley said in his Patch candidate questionnaire.
The project also faces a court challenge. Neighbors Mark and Katherine Smith sued the township and WRV in May 2024, challenging the township's designation of the former Princeton Nurseries land as an area in need of redevelopment.
In August, a Middlesex County Superior Court judge dismissed the case, ruling in favor of the township and the developer. The Smiths' attorney filed an appeal within hours. Construction can continue while the appeal is pending unless a court orders a stay.
The draft air permit for the project is in Sentinel's name. It would allow 12 diesel-fired emergency generators, each rated at 3,620 kilowatts, to provide backup power when the main power supply is not available. Together, the generators are rated at about 43 megawatts.
Testing would be capped at 28 hours a year. DEP said its health risk assessment found the risk "negligible."
The permit's equipment list shows installation dates between March 17 and June 3, 2026, for eight of the 12 generators, even though the permit is still in draft. The other four show Nov. 1, 2026. It's not clear whether those are actual or planned dates.
Patch reached out to Sentinel Data Centers with questions about the installation dates, the generators' combined capacity and the company's role in the project. This story will be updated with any response.
Bloomberg's power figure is well below what opponents have cited. At a Princeton Council meeting in late September, Kip Cherry of the Sierra Club put the project at about 70 megawatts.
Princeton's mayor and council asked DEP to deny the permit on Oct. 2. In a statement, they said the generators "will undoubtedly send emissions across municipal boundaries, often negatively affecting air quality and public health in Princeton's residential neighborhoods and at two of our elementary schools."
"Having diesel generators in today's day and age makes absolutely no sense," Princeton Mayor Mark Freda said at the Sept. 28 council meeting.
About 200 people attended DEP's public hearing on the permit on Sept. 23, and roughly 30 testified. After state Sen. Andrew Zwicker and Assembly members Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis asked for more time, DEP extended the comment period to Nov. 9.
Opposition to data centers has been growing across the region. East Brunswick and North Brunswick have passed local bans on data center construction. In August, dozens of protesters gathered outside the South Brunswick Library as Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law requiring data centers to report their energy and water use to the state. They called for a statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.
The data center has become an issue in the Nov. 3 election.
Carley, a Democrat seeking another term, told Patch he would "rather see batteries than diesel engines backing up that building." He said the township does not review or veto air permits, which are issued by DEP. He has filed comments on the permit himself, calling for fence-line monitoring and a public record of every hour the generators run.
Carley also said the township is drafting an ordinance that would make future data centers a conditional use, with standards for setbacks, noise, water use and backup power, plus a community benefits agreement.
His Republican challenger, John O'Sullivan, said he opposes the permit "due to the adverse effects that the pollution from these large generators would have on the local citizens." He also said he supports a ban on new data centers, like the ones in neighboring towns.
In the race for the 12th Congressional District, which includes South Brunswick and Princeton, Republican Gregg Mele said he does not support a nationwide ban on data centers. For the South Brunswick project, he said, "construction should not outrun environmental review."
Independent candidate Winston Jordan told Patch that Congress should "strictly regulate data centers, investigate the circular financing behind this construction boom, and pause permits, loan guarantees, and subsidies for projects that cannot demonstrate verifiable economic viability."
Green Party candidate Andres Jinete said the data center puts at risk not only South Brunswick residents but surrounding communities in the Raritan River Valley. "Congress has the moral responsibility of banning all new data center developments," Jinete said. "AI must exist within the sustainable limits of the current infrastructure and not drain away a community's health and natural resources."
Democrat Adam Hamawy did not respond to Patch's candidate questionnaire. But he campaigned against the project over the weekend of Oct. 24-25, going door to door with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in five towns and urging residents to speak out against the data center, according to his campaign.
"The last thing our communities need is more formaldehyde, benzene, and nitrogen oxides being pumped into the air by massive diesel generators," Hamawy said in a statement. "What makes this even more outrageous is that new affordable housing is being built right next to this data center, putting low-income families at risk of bearing the brunt of this pollution. This is environmental injustice on top of economic injustice. Our communities deserve the right to decide their own future, not have it dictated by billionaires and corporate developers. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has a responsibility to protect public health, and that starts with denying this air permit."
Written comments on the draft permit carry the same weight as oral comments, DEP said. They are due Monday, Nov. 9, and can be submitted two ways:
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