NorthPoint Provident Realty (Dauphin Highlands)
Swatara Twp + Steelton, Dauphin County
A data center project in Swatara Township + Steelton, Dauphin County.
The project by the numbers
Approved and proceeding in Swatara Township + Steelton, Dauphin County
- Current stage
- Master developer of the Keystone Trade Center, hosting the Amazon campus.
- Decision body
- Swatara Twp + Steelton
- Top issues
- Residents and officials have focused on the conversion of open land or farmland, water use, continuous mechanical noise, and emissions from backup generation.
Harrisburg I LLC (Provident Realty, Dallas TX). $45.6M land sale closed Aug 20 2025 (Dauphin County General Authority). Selected from 6 RFP responses; 10× recorded land value. Tenant TBD. NorthPoint Development is redeveloping the roughly 1,800-acre former U.S. Steel Fairless Works as the Keystone Trade Center, investing about $1.5 billion. The site's Keystone Opportunity Zone tax abatements were revived through a 2020 Fiscal Code amendment worked by then-Rep. John Galloway and Sen. Steve Santarsiero, which made the redevelopment viable. NorthPoint obtained a noise variance from the Falls Township Zoning Hearing Board in August 2024, the first public indication that a data center was planned on the site, and the campus became Amazon's Bucks County project.
How it has unfolded
- 2025-08-20Dauphin Highlands $45.6M land sale closed
Coverage of this project
- 2026-07-11 Lower Bucks TimesAmazon Is Handing $150,000 to Bucks County Groups as Its Falls Township Data Center Splits the NeighborhoodFour warehouses reworked into a 10-building digital infrastructure campus
- 2026-05-27 Bucks County BeaconFalls Township Residents Say They Were Left in the Dark Throughout Data Center Planning ProcessNorthPoint obtained the Aug 2024 noise variance at Keystone Trade Center
Know your rights
In Pennsylvania, a data center on industrial land usually needs a special exception or conditional use, decided by a local Zoning Hearing Board after a public, quasi-judicial hearing. Neighbors can request party status, cross-examine witnesses, and build an evidentiary record. Municipalities can also write data-center ordinances with enforceable standards.
Know your rights →Take action
Organized community opposition is the single most effective check on these projects in Pennsylvania. Show up to hearings, submit comment when it is taken, support legal and expert-witness costs, and ask your municipality for a moratorium and a real ordinance.
How communities push back →